Inquiries Act 2005

Inquiries Act 2005

2005 CHAPTER 12

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Section 31: The relevant part of the United Kingdom and the applicable rules

76. Subsection (1) provides that when an inquiry is set up, the Minister or Ministers who established it must specify what is “the relevant part of the United Kingdom” for the purposes of those provisions of the Act that use this expression. This will determine, for example, which law on privilege will apply and which court should have the powers to enforce orders of the inquiry (see sections 22(2) and 36(3)). It will not necessarily correspond to the administration setting up the inquiry. For example, if a United Kingdom Ministers were to establish an inquiry into a reserved matter in Scotland, which conducted its hearings mainly in Scotland, it would make sense for the relevant part of the United Kingdom to be Scotland. The relevant part of the United Kingdom will usually be the part in which the inquiry is being held, but it is possible that an inquiry may have several venues so for clarity it is important that the Minister or Ministers specify which part it is to be.

77. Subsection (2) applies (typically) where there is an inquiry involving two administrations each of which has made rules under the power conferred by section 41. It requires the Ministers responsible for the inquiry to specify which set of rules is to apply. For example, in the case of a joint inquiry set up by a United Kingdom Minister and the Scottish Ministers, the Ministers might specify the rules made by the Lord Chancellor or the rules made by the Scottish Ministers, or some of each. Subsection (4), on the other hand, gives power to a United Kingdom Minister setting up an inquiry into non-devolved matters in, say, Scotland to specify not only that the relevant part of the United Kingdom is Scotland but also that some or all of the rules applicable to the inquiry are to be rules made by the Scottish Ministers.