PUBLIC INQUIRIES AS ADVISORY POLICY TOOLS

This chapter conceptualises the public inquiry as a procedural tool and addresses the question of what makes a public inquiry an effective policy instrument. The issue of control is central to the chapter's arguments. In their conceptual work, the authors use control as a means of introducing the concept of the ‘catalytic procedural tool’ to better capture the variance in autonomy, location and function that can be associated with different inquiries. In their evaluative work, the authors use control as a means of analysing the effectiveness of an inquiry as a procedural tool, which centres on a capacity to build legitimacy and prospectively influence the implementation and institutionalisation of recommendations. The chapter concludes by claiming that there is value in thinking about control as a means of understanding policy instruments because it can deliver insights into their effects once they leave the design table and enter a variety of technical, political and social environments