Website reviews

The Hutton Inquiry

www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk
And we begin with the Hutton website. No doubt the site will have been well visited for downloads of the final report. However, the more avid follower has been able to make use of the site since the inquiry’s inception.

Full transcripts of the hearing, documentary evidence (including the so-called “dodgy dossier” and files from Dr Kelly’s home computer) and press notices are all on the site. This wealth of publicly available information is to be commended, and the site is easy to navigate, though the colour scheme is somewhat bland.

Interestingly, the website has attracted some criticism for being less than fully accessible. Although changes have rectified some of the faults, this lack of accessibility has prompted Matthew Somerville to create an accessible version of the original – www.dracos.co.uk/hutton. The original quite possibly was in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Ease of Use: 4/5
Site Design: 3/5
Usefulness: 4/5

The Holyrood Inquiry

www.holyroodinquiry.org
Closer to home is Lord Fraser of Carmyllie’s inquiry into the budgeting nightmare that has been the design and creation of the new Scottish Parliament building. To give credit where credit is due, the Auditor General will also have a hand in the investigations.

The website is slightly more showy than the Hutton pages, with a brighter look and more photographs. It eschews biographical details of the protagonists in favour of a (more pertinent) history of events. The same admirable collection of documentary evidence and hearing transcripts is available, but the Holyrood Inquiry website also provides a link to live television coverage of the proceedings (courtesy of the BBC).

Ease of Use: 4/5
Site Design: 4/5
Usefulness: 4/5

The Bichard Inquiry

www.bichardinquiry.org.uk
This inquiry, chaired by Sir Michael Bichard, has been set up to inquire into child protection procedures within certain police forces in the light of Ian Huntley’s arrest history prior to the Soham murders.

The main issues are to do with how information on prior arrests is kept and shared with other agencies. The government have already hinted that changes to the Data Protection Act 1998 will be made, if the inquiry so recommends.

The inquiry has only just begun and therefore the site, which is in similar form to the Hutton site, is sparsely populated in the absence of any substantial evidence or hearings at this stage.

However, there are signs that this website has learned from the criticisms made of its predecessor. There is a whole section devoted to “Accessibility” which explains the various methods in which the site can be accessed – including pre-programmed access keys which, unfortunately, did not seem to be working properly. The site also earns brownie points for its stated commitment to freedom of information, even in advance of any legislative imperative.

Ease of Use: 3/5
Site Design: 5/5
Usefulness: 1/5(to date)

The Caleb Ness Inquiry

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/social_work/calebness/calebness.html
Continuing with inquiries regarding child protection matters, and returning north of the border, the City of Edinburgh Council have published online the report of the local Child Protection Committee’s inquiry (chaired by Susan O’Brien QC) into the death of 11 week old Caleb Ness. The pages are very much more basic than any of the previous sites, amounting to just one main page, together with downloadable (in pdf format only) of both the full report and the executive summary and recommendations.

The temptation is, of course, to disregard the full report (264 pages) and head straight for the executive summary (seven pages). While the summary is certainly well written and worth reading, any practitioner involved in this field of social work law would do well to read the complete version. For within its pages, you will find not only the information gathered by the inquiry, but also some (albeit limited) commentary on the legal framework in which the various agencies dealing with Caleb’s case were acting. The glossary (found in the appendices) is worth keeping in its own right as a useful guide in this arena.

Ease of Use: 4/5
Site Design: 2/5
Usefulness: 3/5

Other inquiry sites

www.equitablelife-inquiry.org.uk

www.bseinquiry.gov.uk;the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk