Scottish Government splurges over £215m on 20,000 days of Public Inquiries

Scottish Sun

17-05-2025

There have been 20,375 days and counting
SPIRALLING COSTS Scottish Government splurges over £215m on 20,000 days of Public Inquiries
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TAXPAYERS have forked out more than £215million on a dozen public inquiries since devolution, The Scottish Sun On Sunday can reveal today.
The massive sum has been spent on high-profile probes, which so far have taken up 20,375 days amid fears some 'resolve little' — or are used by ministers to shelve awkward issues.
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There has been lengthy and costly hearings into disasters such as the Stockline Explosion
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The public inquiry into the factory blast, which killed nine people, took 237 days to complete
Credit: Handout
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The Edinburgh tram inquiry cost nearly £13.7mil and took nearly a decade to conclude
Credit: PA:Press Association
And the bill is set to soar even further, with the green light given for two more lengthy hearings to begin.
The bungled police investigation into the murder of Glasgow sex worker Emma Caldwell 20 years ago is to be examined by ex-top human rights lawyer Lord John Scott.
And hospital operations involving at least 200 patients by 'butcher' brain surgeon Sam Eljamel in Dundee will also be the subject of a lengthy investigation.
Analysis of Holyrood figures shows nearly £100million has been spent on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry alone, which has been running for more than a decade.
Scottish Parliament
CONSTRUCTION of the Holyrood building was a farce which plagued the first few years of the devolved government.
Costs eventually topped £400million — ten times the original £40million estimate — and it was completed years late.
Lord Fraser refused to blame a single 'villain of the piece'.
But he identified Sir Muir Russell, the former head of the Scottish Civil Service, as the man with responsibility for project failures.
He ruled former First Minister Donald Dewar, who died in 2000, had not misled MSPs over costs.
ANNOUNCED: APRIL 20, 2003
REPORTED: SEPTEMBER 15, 2004
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 514
CHAIR: LORD FRASER
COST: £717,426
Last night opposition politicians claimed the inquiries were needed due to blunders by public bodies and a lack of transparency from the Scottish Government.
Scots Tory finance spokesman Craig Hoy agreed they could play an 'essential' role in bringing victims justice.
Stockline Explosion
THE plastics factory blast was Scotland's worst industrial accident for a decade, killing nine people and injuring 33.
And the probe went on to rule the 2004 explosion was an 'avoidable disaster'.
Lord Gill found a piece of damaged pipe carrying liquid petroleum gas into the Glasgow factory was 'out of sight and out of mind'.
It would have cost just £400 to fix, the inquiry heard. Families accused ICL Plastics of 'flaunting' health and safety.
The firm was fined £400,000 prior to the probe getting under way.
ANNOUNCED: NOVEMBER 21, 2008
REPORTED: JULY 16, 2009
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 237
CHAIR: LORD GILL
COST: £1.9M
But he added: 'The SNP Government also has a duty to taxpayers to keep costs as low as possible and to prevent inquiries dragging on for years on end.
"Ministers also need to explain why so many serious mistakes are being made by government departments and public bodies that require inquiries to be set up in the first place.'
C.DIFF OUTBREAK
THIS inquiry focused on the high number of patients hit by a devastating bacterial infection outbreak at Vale of Leven Hospital.
Of 143 patients who contracted clostridium difficile (C.diff), 34 died.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was slammed by the judge in his final report which found 'serious personal and systemic failures' and concluded patients were 'badly let down'.
But questions were raised about the effectiveness of the inquiry, given that by the time of the report many of the central issues had been fixed.
ANNOUNCED: APRIL 22, 2009
REPORTED: NOVEMBER 21, 2014
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 2,039
CHAIR: LORD MACLEAN
COST: £10.7M
Contaminated Blood
ANNOUNCED by then health secretary Nicola Sturgeon in 2008, this probe examined Hepatitis C and HIV infections from contaminated blood transfusions.
Around 3,000 Scots patients were impacted by the scandal. Lasting nearly seven years, the inquiry was blasted as a 'whitewash' by critics as no individual was blamed.
A UK-wide probe found authorities covered up the scale of the problem, which caused 2,900 deaths.
Now £11.8billion has been set aside to compensate victims via Westminster.
ANNOUNCED: APRIL 23, 2008
REPORTED: MARCH 26, 2015
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 2,528
CHAIR: LORD PENROSE
COST: £12.1M
Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie accused the Nats of embedding a 'rotten culture of secrecy and cover-up' in the public sector.
She added: 'Too often those desperately seeking answers in the wake of a scandal face an uphill battle.
"And expensive public inquiries have become one of the only ways to get to the truth.
Tram Fiasco
THE Edinburgh tram project was more than £400million over budget, ran five years late and only delivered half the planned route.
Lord Hardie eventually blamed the city council and its arm's-length companies for a 'litany of failures'.
But the inquiry came under sustained criticism from politicians as it dragged on for almost a decade after Alex Salmond promised a 'swift and thorough' investigation of the project.
The inquiry cost more than the Chilcot probe into the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
But its figures have since been dwarfed by other public inquiries.
ANNOUNCED: JUNE 5, 2014
REPORTED: SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 3,363
CHAIR: LORD HARDIE
COST: £13.7M
"While they have a crucial role to play, we need to embed transparency throughout public services and government so that fewer are needed.'
The £215million bill will have been spent paying for senior judges, their full-time staff, legal fees for leading lawyers, and for accommodation, offices and witness costs.
Child Abuse
THE most controversial, expensive and longest-running public inquiry in Scots history is investigating abuse of kids in care.
Chair Lady Smith faced calls to resign or be replaced last November over alleged 'thinly veiled favouritism' of independent schools.
The probe has looked at where abuse happened and if public sector and other bodies failed to protect children.
It has examined churches and schools and will probe hospitals and prisons.
It was meant to report back in four years but remains ongoing seven years after an extension was granted.
ANNOUNCED: DECEMBER 17, 2014
REPORTED: ONGOING
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 3,806 TO DATE
CHAIR: LADY SMITH
COST: £91.9M
James Mitchell, professor of public policy at Edinburgh University warned governments could use the probes to 'buy time', likely meaning they'd be 'a waste of time and money — and often resolved little'.
He said: 'There's a tendency for demands for a public inquiry following many policy failures or disasters.
"But the crucial test is what is concluded and whether lessons are learned and acted upon.
Hospital Scandals
THE Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is being probed over infections linked to water and ventilation systems.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde also faces a corporate homicide probe into four deaths, including cancer patient Milly Main, ten.
Construction of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh is also part of the inquiry being chaired by Lord Brodie.
It has heard that there was a lack of clear requirements for ventilation in the building, leading to delays. The inquiry continues.
'It may be, of course, that a formal inquiry is unnecessary or a less lengthy and less costly one is needed.
'There are complex and difficult issues that require careful study.
EMMA CALDWELL
NATS chiefs last year bowed to pressure to order an inquiry into the botched police investigation into Emma Caldwell's murder.
Monster Iain Packer, 52, was interviewed a month after sex worker Emma, 27, below, was found dead in woods in Lanarkshire but he evaded justice for 19 years.
He went on to attack more women and was finally caged for at least 36 years last year for offences against 22 victims.
Detectives alleged senior cops told them not to focus on Packer and instead build a case against four Turkish men.
ANNOUNCED: MARCH 7, 2024
REPORTED: ONGOING
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 438 TO DATE
CHAIR: LORD SCOTT
COST: £TBC
"And it doesn't necessarily follow that governments should accept all recommendations. But cynical use of public inquiries only encourages distrust.'
Holyrood's finance committee is currently looking into the issue.
BUTCHER DOC
AFTER years of campaigning by patients of 'butcher' brain surgeon Sam Eljamel, victims got their wish for a public inquiry last year.
The medic left many patients injured and disfigured following operations between 1995 and 2013 at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.
The inquiry will examine unanswered questions about the scale of the harm inflicted on innocent victims by Eljamel.
It will look at whether investigations into his ops went far enough — and whether others could have stopped the damage and prevented him from hurting scores of patients.
ANNOUNCED: SEPTEMBER 7, 2023
REPORTED: ONGOING
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 620 TO DATE
CHAIR: LORD WEIR
COST: £TBC
Police Fingerprints
DETECTIVE Shirley McKie was wrongly accused of leaving a fingerprint at a murder scene, sparking a perjury trial and her sacking.
But after suing the government over accusations the Scottish Criminal Record Office had acted dishonestly, the former police officer received £750,000. The scandal sparked a probe which exonerated Ms McKie.
But it found there was 'nothing malicious' about her identification through the fingerprint.
It also exposed key weaknesses in how fingerprint evidence was being treated and made 86 recommendations.
ANNOUNCED: MARCH 14, 2008
REPORTED: DECEMBER 14, 2011
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 1,370
CHAIR: SIR ANTHONY CAMPBELL
COST: £3.4M
Its convener, SNP MSP Kenny Gibson, said: 'Our short, focused investigation will examine whether public inquiries represent value for money, and whether spending controls work.
'It's important we get answers to these questions given the huge sums involved.'
PANDEMIC FALLOUT
NICOLA Sturgeon announced Scotland's own Covid-19 inquiry in 2021 — months after then Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out plans for a UK-wide probe.
The then Nats chief insisted an probe into the handling of the pandemic north of the border was necessary, despite the UK inquiry also looking at how devolved governments coped during the crisis.
But the Scots investigation is to tackle decisions taken at Holyrood including the mass discharge of untested patients into care homes.
It covers the period from January 2020 to December 2022.
ANNOUNCED: AUGUST 24, 2021
REPORTED: ONGOING
DAYS TO COMPLETE: 1,364 TO DATE
CHAIR: LORD BRAILSFORD
COST: £34M
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Public inquiries provide important opportunities to establish facts and to learn lessons for the future in the most transparent means possible.
"They operate independently of government and it's for the chair, who has an ongoing duty to avoid unnecessary costs, to direct how he or she carries out its functions.'