The appointment of a committee of inquiry to examine a question of current political controversy is a common occurrence in Britain. Yet the committee of inquiry had received little attention from writers on public administration. Originally published in 1975, in this new study for the Royal Institute of Public Administration, Gerald Rhodes explores the nature and operation of such committees appointed during the ten-year period 1959–1968, and draws some general conclusions about their contribution to the development of public policy-making.

Committees of inquiry are called by a variety of names – royal commissions, departmental committees and, sometimes, working parties. They deal with a large range of subjects, some of great social and economic importance such as higher education and the major airports, and some of a more limited or technical nature such as the renumeration of milk producers or the technology of pressure vessels. Mr Rhodes discusses the problems of defining these wide-ranging bodies and examines the various purposes they serve. He also explores the differences in size and membership of committees and the influence these factors can have on their effectiveness. How committees of inquiry work may be analysed in terms of their sources of information or the way they view their tasks, and the book discusses the implications of these approaches.

Are committees of inquiry effective? Mr Rhodes looks at the consequences of committee reports and the means for assessing their success or failure. He also examines the role of such committees in the wider context of policy-making, and discusses whether they have a general purpose and value for democratic society beyond the more immediate and specific need for which they are usually created.