The changing character of public inquiries in the (risk) regulatory state

This article historically considers major public inquiries as an institution of the British regulatory state, using recent data from parliamentary committees. Major inquiries draw upon judicial independence to restore political authority. Despite their formally ‘public’ character, major inquiries were more confined to matters internal to the state before the 1980s, reflecting the insularity of ‘club rule’ and the invisibility of the actual ‘public’. Inquiries began to assume their modern form in the 1960s, but it was in the context of the need for new institutions that arose with the collapse of ‘club rule’ that inquiries took on new significance. Their increased use reflects not simply an increase in the number of events necessitating such a response, but a greater need for a mechanism with both a public orientation and formal independence. The article suggests that inquiries may have become overburdened instruments, particularly in relation to an expectation to effectively eliminate risk.