Reviews and inquiries that have been requested, instigated or promised into matters covered by Holyrood: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many reviews or inquiries have been requested, instigated or promised into matters covered by Holyrood, it's members, it's committee's and departments covered by it's jurisdiction by Ministers of the Scottish Government since 1/1/2020?
2. How many have reported back to the parliament?
3. How many have not started actual investigations yet ?
4. How many are still investigating their area of interest?
5. How many have involved court action/s to get the information required to complete their investigation?
6. How many people are employed in each of these inquiries and the total number involved in all of them since 1/1/2020?
7. How much each inquiry that is completed in this time frame has cost?
8. How many have not published their findings due to court rulings or being deemed not in Scotland's public interest?

Response

The responses to each of your questions are below:

1. Since 1st January 2020 two statutory public inquiries have been established. The first was the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry in 2022 and the second was the inquiry into Professor Eljamel in 2023. There are three further inquiries which are still running and were established prior to 2020. Those are the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (established in 2014), the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry (established in 2019) and the Hospitals Inquiry (established in 2019). Additionally, a number of reviews have been conducted, ranging from small-scale assessments of policy to substantial investigations akin to a public inquiry. These are not recorded in a form that would allow us to collate them. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

2. None of the inquiries above have yet submitted their final reports.

3. The conduct of the inquiry is independent of government and we are unable to comment on this question.

4. Again, as the conduct of the inquiry is independent of government, we are unable to comment on this question.

5. As far as we are aware none have been involved in court actions in order to receive information they require for their investigations. However, as inquiries operate independently, we are unable to comment further on this. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry was subject to court action by way of judicial review proceedings, although this was not an inquiry commissioned by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry was granted leave to intervene in the judicial review. This information is public record and more information can be found on the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry’s website.

6. In answering this question we have included all current inquiries rather than just those established post 1st January 2020. Inquiries have flexible models of staffing to allow them to meet the needs of their work at particular points in time.

• The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry – This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
• The Sheku Bayoh Inquiry - As of 05 February 2024, there are 44 people working for the Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry inclusive of Chair, Counsel and Assessors.
• The Hospitals Inquiry – As of 08 February 2024, the Hospitals Inquiry have 66 staff (this number includes the Chair and the seven junior and senior Counsel). This number fluctuates a little but not significantly. Additionally they have a small number of temporary staff working on specific pieces of work, often short-term.
• The Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry - As of 05 February 2024, there are 148 people working for the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry. The procedure, conduct and operation of the Inquiry, including staffing, appointments, and staffing mix, are matters for the Chair. The Inquiry has a flexible model of staffing to allow it to meet the needs of its work at particular points in time. There is a mix of permanent, fixed term and agency staff to permit this flexibility.
• Inquiry into Professor Eljamel – Although the inquiry has been announced it is in the early stages of being established. It has therefore not been possible to collate a number of staff at this stage in the inquiry. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

7. All of the information you have requested is available from each Inquiry’s website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact us again and we will send you a paper copy.

8. No public inquiry has been unable to publish their findings due to court rulings or being deemed not in Scotland's public interest.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.