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Can overseas witnesses leave an inquiry facing an empty chair? Helen Stone explores the extended reach of public inquiries
- The Divisional Court has, for the first time, fully examined the law concerning a public inquiry’s ability to compel in-person attendance of a witness based overseas.
- The court ruled that public inquiries have the power, under s 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005, to issue such notices; with potential criminal sanction for non-compliance.
- The court’s judgment runs counter to the approaches adopted by previous public inquiries. It remains to be seen what impact the decision will have on current and future public inquiries.
In accordance with the Inquiries Act 2005 (IA 2005), public inquiries are created where events have caused, or are capable of causing, public concern; or where there is public concern that particular events may have occurred.
To help assuage this concern, IA 2005 grants public inquiry chairs significant powers to obtain evidence. This includes the power to institute criminal proceedings should there be failure to comply.
Until now, however, a public inquiry’s evidence-gathering powers appeared circumscribed in one
