Committee publication · Correspondence · 10 March 2026
Letter from Kenneth Gibson MSP, Convener, Finance and Public Administration Committee, Scottish Parliament, on implementation monitoring of public inquiry recommendations, dated 4.3.26
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Inquiry into the recommendations of the Infected Blood Inquiry (Stage 1)
Summary
Letter from Kenneth Gibson MSP, Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Finance and Public Administration Committee, responding to the UK PACAC's inquiry into implementation monitoring of public inquiry recommendations. Gibson shares findings from the Scottish Parliament's December 2025 scrutiny of Scottish public inquiries' cost-effectiveness, which identified gaps in monitoring recommendation implementation and scrutiny mechanisms, with recommendations for eight-week response timescales, transparent tracking platforms, and strengthened parliamentary oversight.
Key findings
- The 2005 Act contains no provisions requiring government responses to inquiry reports or mechanisms for monitoring implementation of recommendations, creating transparency gaps.
- Scottish Parliament recommended an eight-week timescale for government and public bodies to respond to inquiry reports, but this was not formally accepted by the Scottish Government due to implementation challenges.
- Committee identified serious lack of transparency in how inquiry recommendations are implemented and recommended a publicly accessible online platform similar to the UK Government's dashboard to track implementation.
- Scottish Government committed to considering options for a similar tracking resource and strengthening guidance on lessons-learned papers, but did not immediately accept recommendation to establish a central public inquiries unit.
- Scottish Parliament recommended annual evidence-based reports to Parliament on inquiry performance and costs, with next Parliament considering adding oversight of public inquiries to an existing committee's remit.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Kenneth Gibson MSP, Simon Hoare MP, Scottish Parliament Finance and Public Administration Committee, UK Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Scottish Government, Deputy First Minister, House of Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee
Notable line
“… there is a serious lack of transparency in how public inquiry recommendations are implemented …”
Key Quotes
“The Committee concluded that it is essential for transparency and accountability that the Scottish Government and relevant public bodies respond promptly to public inquiry reports.”
“I think that there are routes to implementing all the Committee's recommendations”
“… there is a serious lack of transparency in how public inquiry recommendations are implemented …”
“… practice is to publish a response to the inquiry's final report, setting out which recommendations are being accepted. A team in the Government is then responsible for overseeing the delivery of those recommendations.”
“… we heard examples of repeated tragedies and disasters that could have been avoided had earlier recommendations been acted on.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗