Public inquiry chronologies explained

What an inquiry chronology is for

A court chronology helps decide a dispute between parties. An inquiry chronology helps explain events to the public and to government. In the UK, section 2 of the Inquiries Act 2005 says an inquiry panel is not to rule on, and has no power to determine, any person's civil or criminal liability ².

The same section says a panel is not to be inhibited in its work by any likelihood of liability being inferred from facts it determines or recommendations it makes ². So an inquiry can find the order of events in detail, and that finding is not itself a judgment.

How the evidence is gathered

The Inquiries Act 2005 sets the framework. Section 1 gives the power to establish an inquiry. Section 5 covers the setting-up date and terms of reference. Section 17 covers evidence and procedure, and section 21 gives the chair powers to require production of evidence ¹.

The setting-up date and terms of reference under section 5 are fixed points in any later chronology of the inquiry itself ¹.

Publishing the record

Section 18 says the chair must take reasonable steps so members of the public, including reporters, can attend the inquiry or see a simultaneous transmission, and can obtain or view a record of evidence and documents given to it ³. Section 19 allows restrictions on that access ¹.

This makes the dated documents behind an inquiry's findings open to checking. A reader can compare a date in a report with the evidence record it came from ³.

Reports and their dates

Sections 24, 25 and 26 of the Inquiries Act 2005 cover submission of reports, publication of reports, and laying of reports before Parliament or Assembly ¹. Each step has its own date, and readers should not confuse the date a report was submitted with the date it was published.

Large inquiries split their work. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry lists these published module reports ⁴.

Examples from other inquiries

• United States. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, known as the 9-11 Commission, released a final report with an executive summary, 13 chapters, appendices and notes ⁵.
• United Kingdom. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report page offers the full report in large print volumes and an executive summary in 15 languages other than English ⁶.

Reading an inquiry chronology

• Check the terms of reference set under section 5 ¹.
• Check whether a finding rests on a document in the published evidence record ³.
• Note the module or volume and its publication date, since later modules may revisit the same period ⁴.
• Remember that findings on sequence are not findings of liability ².