Running costs of abuse probe rise to £1.8m
Spending increases by £690,000 since March
THE troubled Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has cost £1.8 million since launching last year.
The revelation comes as the inquiry operates without its chairwoman and a key panel member, after they both resigned, and when it has barely begun taking evidence from victims of abuse in care.
QC Susan O’Brien quit as chairwoman earlier this month, days after fellow panel member Professor Michael Lamb, with both citing excessive Government interference in the inquiry’s work.
The inquiry released the updated figures on its website, along with a statement insisting the inquiry’s work was continuing, despite the loss of two of its three-person panel.
It said: “Scottish ministers are in the process of appointing a new chair and panel member for the inquiry.
“Meanwhile, the important work of the inquiry continues as it seeks to fulfil the requirements outlined in its terms of reference.”
Spending has risen by £687,044 to £1,800,861 since March, when the inquiry launched a call for evidence, the statement from the inquiry said.
“Since then, the inquiry has been in contact with around 170 survivors of abuse. Private sessions with these survivors have started.
“The sessions are taking place across Scotland and the UK, and are being prioritised according to the individual needs of survivors.”
The inquiry has also granted core participant status, and funding for legal representation, for two groups of child abuse survivors, which means they are expected to have a significant role in the inquiry and may have access to evidence and documents not made public more widely.
These are INCAS (In Care Abuse Survivors) and FBGA (Former Boys and Girls Abused of Quarriers Homes).
The inquiry also said it had taken a “significant step” towards creating a public record of abuse, by commissioning Professor Lorraine Radford of the University of Central Lancashire to undertake a review of evidence of the prevalence of child abuse in Scotland.
This will focus on the abuse of children in residential and foster care and a report on the findings is expected by the end of this year.
The statement said discussions have also been held with a range of organisations, including Police Scotland, local authorities and health boards about the preservation and recovery of relevant records, which will be requested in the coming months.
However, the inquiry has only so far taken evidence from people who are frail, sick or elderly and its potential cost is already an issue.
When he resigned, Professor Michael Lamb, of Cambridge University, said government interference had left the inquiry team unable to do its job.
“As a result of this interference, the inquiry has been forced to work without the key personnel and resources needed to ensure progress,” he said.
In her letter of resignation, Susan O’Brien attacked ministers and civil servants for excessive interference in the inquiry’s work.
It was revealed at the time Deputy First Minister John Swinney had begun steps to have her removed, allegedly over comments she made disparaging survivors.
However, she also claimed the “nuclear option” of removing her had first been discussed in January “during a dispute about funding”.
Mr Swinney said at the time he had a duty to ensure costs to the public purse were under control.
The remit of the inquiry is to investigate the nature and extent of abuse of children in care in Scotland, and to consider the extent to which institutions and bodies with legal responsibility for the care of children failed in their duty of care.
NO -NE can put a price on the horrors of child abuse. But the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has just put a price on its work so far: a worrying £1.8 million. This is before it is even properly under way and, worse still, comes at a time when it is rudderless.
Set up last October, the inquiry aims to raise awareness of past suffering, to provide opportunities for this to be publicly acknowledged, and to validate the testimony of victims. In policy terms, four years down the line, it will recommend improvements in law.
Its remit is vast, encompassing historical instances of physical, sexual, psychological, spiritual and medical abuse of children in care (including foster care).
Obviously, such an inquiry requires organisational stability and a clear idea of where it is going. There are worrying signs it has neither. Already, the three-strong panel has lost two members. Chairwoman Susan O’Brien QC and panel member Professor Michael Lamb have both resigned in the last month, citing government interference in the inquiry’s important work.
But there have been hints also of tensions regarding costs. The Scottish Government could rightfully claim it is between a rock and a hard place. It cannot put a price on an open-ended inquiry into child abuse, but it has a general duty to keep down public spending. By a similar token, the inquiry chair has a responsibility to ensure costs do not become excessive. But, at the time of writing, there is no chair.
For victims, meanwhile, it only adds insult to injury that an inquiry into their suffering has quickly become mired in political machinations, resignations and concerns about costs.
The Scottish Government, which set up the inquiry and decided its scope, needs to provide greater clarity about where it is going. How much is it likely to cost? And when is it going to get the leadership it so urgently requires?