Abuse inquiry has cost £2.5m ...in just a year
Chairman rejects call to widen remit
SCOTLAND’S child abuse inquiry has cost taxpayers more than £2.5million, with its chairman now rejecting calls to widen the remit.
New figures show the inquiry launched a year ago is costing an average of £209,800 a month, with spending since July increasing by £717,189 to a total of £2,518,050.
In addition to the increase in spending, a range of new documents published online reveal that new chairman Lady Anne Smith has ruled out expanding the remit of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, despite calls from victims to do so.
Lady Smith was appointed in July to head the troubled inquiry following the resignation of the previous chairman, Susan O’Brien, QC.
Victims’ groups had previously asked officials to consider widening the scope to include those who were targeted outwith residential care. But Lady Smith has rejected this and claimed that the inquiry is already extensive and had gathered many ‘accounts of abuse’. An online message posted by the judge stated: ‘The terms of the remit were set when the inquiry began.
‘Their width enables us to investigate the abuse of children in residential care in Scotland... from within the living memory of anyone who suffered such abuse up to the end of 2014.’
But Lady Smith also called for victims or witnesses who have not yet been involved in the inquiry to come forward.
Urging them to contact her team, she said: ‘I would encourage anyone who is able to provide information about such abuse, or about the places where it occurred or about those responsible for them, whether as victim witness or otherwise, to come forward. To talk to us.’
Last night Alan Draper, spokesman
‘Issue of redress for survivors
for the campaign group In Care Survivors of Abuse, criticised Lady Smith’s statement, saying that it was ‘disappointing’ and that she had failed to address victims’ and campaigners’ concerns.
He said: ‘We are pleased Lady Smith is calling for people to come forward, but we still have not heard from John Swinney about extending the remit of the inquiry or the issue of redress for survivors.’
In her statement, Lady Smith also appeared to reveal that the inquiry will continue without replacing Professor Michael Lamb, who quit as a panel member just a week before Miss O’Brien.
Mr Lamb resigned from the inquiry citing ‘interference’ from the Scottish Government.
He sent a letter to Mr Swinney complaining of ‘repeated threats to the inquiry’s independence’. But the SNP government said that it ‘entirely’ rejected his claims. Miss O’Brien quit a week later after facing action over ‘unacceptable’ comments.
Mr Swinney, who accepted her resignation, said that it had come after she revealed views which child abuse trauma experts had judged to indicate ‘a belief system that is incompatible with the post of chair of such an inquiry’.
But Miss O’Brien claimed that she was leaving because the government had ‘sought to micro-manage and control the inquiry’ and had ‘undermined’ her.
Lady Smith revealed also that she is planning to recruit more staff to help with the inquiry and is currently looking for a suitable venue that will be big enough for taking evidence from the many victims.
It is believed that more than 20,000 victims could come forward by the end of the inquiry, with Police Scotland warning the increase in its workload could put the single force under growing pressure.
The Scottish Government has said that where crimes are uncovered, the ‘full force of the law’ will be used to bring those responsible to justice.
A Scottish Government spokesman said Mr Swinney has agreed to examine the scope of the inquiry remit, and that it was ‘one of the widest-ranging’ seen in Scotland.
She added: ‘With a remit focused beyond sexual abuse, including physical and other forms of child abuse, the inquiry’s scope was extended following consultation with survivors and others to include abuse across a wider range of care settings.’
VULNERABLE children taken into care have the right to expect to live in safety, supported and nurtured by professionals devoted to their well-being. Sadly, this has not always been the case. We now know that many young people suffered horrific abuse while inside the Scottish care system.
It is right that the victims are heard and an inquiry into the failings that allowed predators to abuse them is a necessary step. But the investigation into what went wrong in Scotland’s care homes has lurched from crisis to crisis.
The inquiry has cost more than £2.5million already, yet its remit falls short of that demanded by victims who would like it to include the cases of those abused outwith residential homes.
Confidence in the Scottish inquiry, established a year ago, has already been undermined after the former chairman resigned and another panel member quit, complaining of Government interference.
It would now appear that, despite massive financial investment, the process risks failing to satisfy victims.
A parallel inquiry in England is also in crisis. It is now being headed by its fourth chairman in only two years. Again, huge sums of public money have been spent yet victims’ confidence in the inquiry’s standards have been badly shaken.
We are bound to say that the problems bedevilling both processes are completely unacceptable. For many years, those who fell victim to predatory paedophiles while in care were ignored, their life-changing experiences buried.
Establishing independent, far-reaching inquiries into what went wrong should have been straightforward. Instead, we have witnessed breathtaking incompetence, heavy-handed Government interventions and a lack of focus on those abused.
Lady Anne Smith, now heading the Scottish inquiry, should consider again the request of victims that she widen its remit. She must do all she can to reassure those who suffered while in the care system that their involvement in the current process is worthwhile.
Childhood abuse leaves scars which may never fade.
The very least they deserve is for the inquiries under way in both Scotland and England to put them first.