Public Inquiries - A Guide to Evidence & Procedure

Introduction

Public inquiries are held to investigate events of public concern.

The purpose of inquiries is to find out what happened, why it happened, who is accountable for it happening and to try and learn lessons from those events in order to prevent future occurrences.

A key aspect of public inquiries is the gathering of evidence. An inquiry can make a request for evidence under Rule 9 of the Inquiry Rules 2006 and in default of provision of such evidence, the Chair of an inquiry may require the production of evidence.

This webinar discusses the powers of the inquiry to obtain relevant evidence in answering its terms of reference under the relevant legislation.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The legal framework relating to the provision of evidence in an inquiry
• Enforcement of the chairperson’s powers under section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005, as considered in the case of Chair of Manchester Inquiry v Taghdi and Chair of Manchester Inquiry v Abedi
• Responding to a request to provide evidence/documents
• The right not to self-incriminate and legal privilege

This webinar was recorded on 9th January 2023