UK authorities ‘were reluctant’ to take part in child migration to Australia

LUK local authorities were “reluctant” to take part in child migration to Australia due to concerns over welfare, an inquiry has heard.

Mark Davies, of the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care, told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he had found evidence that councils were hesitant to send children and raised concerns over the level of care they were receiving.

Colin Macaulay QC, senior counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Davies: “We’ve seen a number of documents after the war that show some local authorities were reluctant to migrate children as they were concerned about welfare.

“In 1955, the minutes of one meeting stated that they felt children in care could not be better off in Australia, and could be better satisfied in the UK.”

Mr Davies said: “I agree, it is quite clear that many of them did not send children. It looks very likely that the majority were of the opinion that migration was not suitable for children.”

Mr Davies added that while visits took place to institutions that migrated children were sent to, it would not be fair to refer to them as inspections as “it is quite hard to inspect provisions in other countries”.

The inquiry heard a total of 5 per cent of children migrated to Australia from the UK were sent through local government, while the majority travelled through voluntary or religious organisations.

Mr Davies said there had been political tension between the UK and Australian governments, with Australia encouraging child migration to rebuild after the war with “good, white stock”.

The hearing is the latest in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry’s phase examining child migration programmes.

The inquiry’s first public hearings took place in 2017 and the following year Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney removed the requirement for it to conclude within four years..