{"id":645338,"date":"2025-12-21T01:53:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T01:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/645338\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T01:53:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T01:53:19","slug":"now-msps-admit-the-258million-cost-of-scotlands-public-inquiries-has-spiralled-out-of-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/645338\/","title":{"rendered":"Now MSPs admit the \u00a3258million cost of Scotland’s public inquiries has spiralled out of control"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s growing numbers of public inquiries are too expensive, \u2018poorly defined\u2019 and are damaging front-line services, a scathing new report has found.<\/p>\n

Since the country first gained the legal powers to hold public inquiries in 2007, the cost to taxpayers has reached a staggering \u00a3258 million.<\/p>\n

Several of the probes, including investigations into the Edinburgh<\/a> trams fiasco and the death of Sheku Bayoh, have been widely criticised for dragging on for years.<\/p>\n

Now a Holyrood committee has recommended that ministers fix budgets to stop costs spiralling \u2013 and also set definite timetables.<\/p>\n

MSPs on the finance and public administration committee said inquiries are a valuable tool for \u2018holding public bodies to account, reviewing past wrongs, identifying solutions and recommending changes to policy\u2019.<\/p>\n

But they concluded that the system is \u2018overstretched and poorly defined\u2019, with some inquiries lacking a \u2018core objective\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Sheku <\/p>\n

Sheku Bayoh and his partner Collette Bell. The inquiry into his death has been criticised for the length of time it has taken<\/p>\n

\"Despite <\/p>\n

Despite so far costing \u00a326.2 million, the inquiry into Mr Bayoh’s death faces an uncertain future after its chairman Lord Bracadale resigned in October<\/p>\n

Their report also warns that, in some cases, participation in long-running inquiries is preventing judges and police officers from doing their core jobs.<\/p>\n

In October, The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed that Police Scotland had warned the MSPs preparing the report that sending so many officers to take part in inquiries was hampering the force\u2019s efforts to fight crime.<\/p>\n

Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr said: ‘Scotland is being governed by an SNP administration that is simply not up to the job.<\/p>\n

‘\u00a3258 million has been blown on public inquiries because ministers can\u2019t set clear objectives, control costs or take responsibility.<\/p>\n

‘This is a second\u2011rate government in action \u2013 endless drift, no grip, and a taxpayer\u2011funded gravy train that\u2019s draining money away from frontline services.’<\/p>\n

Committee convener Kenneth Gibson, a Nationalist MSP, said: \u2018There is currently limited ability for ministers to control expenditure and stop costs spiralling \u2013 or to stop an inquiry dragging on for years.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are also concerned at the impact on existing public services if resources are redirected to inquiries that may last for years.\u2019<\/p>\n

The committee concluded other countries use systems that provide \u2018better alternatives for cost effectiveness and effective delivery\u2019.<\/p>\n

Mr Gibson added: \u2018For example, Sweden normally requires its public inquiries to conclude within two years and within a set budget.\u2019<\/p>\n

The first public inquiry of the Holyrood era examined the 2004 ICL Stockline tragedy \u2013 in which nine people died when a plastics factory in Glasgow exploded. It published its report in 2009, exposing a series of failings and made recommendations for improving industry safety \u2013 all for the relatively modest cost of \u00a31.9 million.<\/p>\n

Other completed probes include the Campbell Inquiry into a police fingerprinting scandal, costing \u00a34.8 million, the Vale of Leven Inquiry into hospital-acquired infections, costing \u00a310.7 million and the \u00a312.1 million Penrose Inquiry into the \u2018tainted blood scandal\u2019 that saw NHS patients infected with hepatitis C and HIV.<\/p>\n

The inquiry into delays and costs during the construction of Edinburgh\u2019s tram system was itself years late and massively over budget \u2013 finally producing a report in 2023 at a cost of \u00a313.1 million.<\/p>\n

The probe into the death of Sheku Bayoh \u2013 a 31-year-old who died in Kirkcaldy, Fife, while being restrained by police in 2015 \u2013 has been running for five years.<\/p>\n

Despite so far costing \u00a326.2 million, it faces an uncertain future after its chairman Lord Bracadale resigned in October amid claims he had not remained impartial.<\/p>\n

The Holyrood report found the cost of inquiries overall was \u00a3258.8 million since 2007 \u2013 including \u00a330 million this year alone.<\/p>\n

Six public inquiries are ongoing. Two have only just started \u2013 investigating rogue surgeon Sam Eljamel and the death of sex worker Emma Caldwell \u2013 while four others, looking into Covid, child abuse, Scottish hospitals and the death of Mr Bayoh, have been running for more than four years.<\/p>\n

The most expensive is the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which started in 2014 and has so far cost more than \u00a3102 million.<\/p>\n

The report concluded that some inquiries drag on because ministers were too vague in spelling out what they hoped to achieve.<\/p>\n

Last night the Scottish Government said the chair of an inquiry is already legally obliged to avoid unnecessary costs \u2013 but also said ministers would consider the report\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

A spokesman added: \u2018We welcome this report. The proposals will be responded to in due course. Inquiries operate independently of government and are set up when no other avenue is deemed sufficient.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s growing numbers of public inquiries are too expensive, \u2018poorly defined\u2019 and are damaging front-line services, a scathing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,92,1102,4884,12,712,10004,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-645338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-snp","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115755064167611139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}