The roles of proof and concern in the work of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Abstract

Royal Commissions, like much of the British constitution, just emerge from the mists of history! Tudor monarchs greatly favoured them for they served the dual purposes of doing something about a problem, whilst allowing those in the royal favour to profit. Royal warrants allowed one, for example, to destroy the rats in part of the capital and charge the citizenry for one's services. By the middle of the nineteenth century Commissions to advise on matters of policy were becoming more common than Commissions with particular duties. However some of the latter survive (e.g. the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments, etc.) and these are generally standing Commissions, that is they continue indefinitely at the Sovereigns pleasure. Most 'policy Commissions' (e.g. on Gambling, on Prostitution) are set up for a limited period, to undertake a study and to report. These Reports are 'presented to Parliament by Command' of the Sovereign, they are part of parliamentary proceedings and so protected by parliamentary immunity. This aspect has not recently been important in the United Kingdom and certainly the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has never needed it; but it has been a controversial feature of the work of recent Australian Royal Commissions. In practice the Commission prepares its Report and the Stationery Office prints it just as it is received. The report is addressed to the Queen and an early copy, specially bound with red ribbons and with the original signatures of the Commissioners, is handed to the Home Secretary who passes it on, virtually immediately, to the Palace. Some days, generally about a week, must elapse before it is published, i.e. presented to Parliament and at a Press Conference, to the public. Strictly speaking (unless he is Home Secretary) the first sight a Minister has of a Royal Commission Report is when it appears with parliamentary papers on the day of publication. In practice, because it is much more effective if Ministers can comment authoritatively on the report as soon as it is published, arrangements are normally made for both the Minister and the Opposition Sir Richard Southwood, F.R.S., is Linacre Professor of Zoology at Oxford and Chairman of The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Later this year he is to become Chairman of the Radiological Protection Board.