Royal Commissions, Committees of Inquiry and Tribunals

Abstract

The public investigation of problems can take a number of forms — Royal Commissions, Tribunals, ad hoc departmental Committees and special parliamentary conferences or committees. We do not deal here with purely parliamentary bodies like the Speaker’s Conferences (on Electoral Reform — see p. 155 — and on Devolution) or like the Select Committees set up from time to time by the House of Commons and/or the House of Lords. But we attempt an exhaustive listing of all domestic Royal Commissions and all Tribunals of Inquiry under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 1921 as well as a very arbitrary and brief selection from the 1,000 or so other Committees of Inquiry appointed since 1900. It is, however, important to remember that the decision whether to refer a problem to a Royal Commission or a Committee is not necessarily determined by the importance of the subject. Royal Commissions are listed fully here because no comprehensive list is available elsewhere and because the number is not excessive. Department Committees, which have been much more numerous, often deal with relatively narrow and limited matters; we have selected only a few which seemed plainly as important as the average Royal Commission. We have also had to omit references to committees and subcommittees appointed by Royal Commissions and by Governmental Advisory Bodies, though these cover further reports of importance such as the Report to the Central Advisory Council on Education by Lady Plowden’s Committee on Primary Education (1967).