The fundamental purpose of a public inquiry is to establish the truth about a set of events of national concern or significance. In broad terms, public inquiries seek to discover what happened, why it happened, who was responsible, and to recommend steps that should be taken to ensure that history does not repeat itself. In terms of institutional accountability, the Government and Police authorities will be conscious of the role any ensuing report on the Battle of Orgreave could play in helping to restore confidence in policing over the long term among the affected communities. For those miners charged with riot and violent disorder, the inquiry represents an opportunity to have their voice heard.

Public inquiries can be established with either statutory or non-statutory status. Statutory public inquires (e.g<em>. Grenfell</em>, <em>Covid-19</em>, <em>Leveson</em>) are predominantly convened by Government ministers under the Inquiries Act 2005 and have the legal power to compel individuals and organisations to give evidence under oath. In contrast, non-statutory inquiries (e.g. <em>Chilcot, Angiolini</em>) provide a greater degree of procedural flexibility which can make it easier to hear sensitive evidence privately or collaborate with core participants such as the military or intelligence services. Both types of inquiry are run independently of the Government.