The UK is spending £100 million annually on public inquiries, as the Tories push for a vote on an investigation into grooming gangs

08 January 2025 , 11:33

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The UK is spending £100 million annually on public inquiries, as the Tories push for a vote on an investigation into grooming gangs

The UK has spent more than £100 million on public inquiries every year over the past decade, LBC analysis can reveal, as calls grow for a national probe into grooming gangs.

Twenty seven inquiries have started since 2014, with multiple seeing costs run into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

But as the Conservatives seek to force a vote on another inquiry being opened, one key player from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has told LBC the attitude towards them needs to be overhauled, to ensure value for money.

LBC analysis has found the cost of inquiries over the past 10 years has now topped £1 billion.

Six of them have cost more than £80 million each, with one of the longest running being the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry which started in 2015 and still has no confirmed report date.

Four, including the UK Covid Inquiry, Grenfell and Infected Blood have cost over £100 million.

Grace Cooper