Long-winded, fruitless public inquiries just pile more misery on victims. It doesn’t have to be this way | Samira Shackle

From Grenfell to Covid, such investigations are set up to bring change and restore public trust. But none of this is happening

Could you name the 18 public inquiries currently open in the UK? I will start you off: the deadly fire at Grenfell Tower; the overreach of undercover policing; the abuse of children in care in Scotland; the mistreatment of migrants at the Brook House removal centre; the conduct of British troops in the war in Afghanistan; the abuse of patients at Muckamore Abbey hospital in Northern Ireland; responses to the Covid-19 pandemic; the deaths of mental health inpatients in Essex; the Post Office Horizon scandal; the responsibility of the state in the Omagh bombings; and failings at the Countess of Chester hospital, where Lucy Letby worked. Others concern deaths in custody, and other fatalities where the state could have been at fault.

Just this cursory list tells us that the focus of public inquiries – which are about vitally important and sensitive issues – ranges widely. This reflects the vague criteria for setting one up: a public inquiry is an independent, ad hoc institution initiated by the government to investigate a matter of “major public concern”. Originally seen as a last resort, they have in recent years become a routine response to the UK’s numerous public crises. There are almost twice as many open inquiries now as there were in 2017, when there were nine, and the last time there were none running was in 1991. As the number of public inquiries has increased, they have also become more costly, lengthy and complex.

Samira Shackle is a journalist and regular contributor to the Guardian long read. She is the author of Karachi Vice