Public inquiries not delivering change, report warns

Public inquiries into disasters such as the Grenfell Tower fire take too long and often do not lead to change, a Lords report has found.

Inquiries are routinely set up by governments to "learn lessons" and avoid future tragedies.

But Lord Norton, who led the report, said: “Lessons learned' is an entirely vacuous phrase if lessons aren’t being learned because inquiry recommendations are ignored or delayed.

“Furthermore, it is insulting and upsetting for victims, survivors and their families who frequently hope that, from their unimaginable grief, something positive might prevail.”

The report sets out ways to make inquiries more effective. The government said it would study the recommendations.

In recent years there have been large-scale inquiries launched into subjects including Grenfell, the infected blood scandal and the Covid pandemic.

However, earlier this year bereaved families expressed their fears that the recommendations from these inquiries would “simply disappear”.

Some campaigners said, external they have “no faith” that the reports would lead to change.

A report by the House of Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee has now called for a rethink in how inquiries are carried out and crucially, how their recommendations, are implemented.

The committee warned that inquiries were perceived as “frequently too long and expensive, leading to a loss of public confidence and protracted trauma”.

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Source: BBC News, 16 September 2024