Lady Smith blasts delays in setting up inquiry into abuse at Scotland's children's homes

Lady Smith hit out at successive Edinburgh administrations from 2002 to 2015 when the inquiry was finally set up under Nicola Sturgeon's minority SNP government and said the 13 year delay meant many former residents of the institutions died before they could receive justice.

“For far too long survivors’ voices were not listened to, nor heard; they were treated as if their views did not matter and as if they were not worth listening to, just as when they were abused in care," said Lady Smith, who is chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, as she published her latest report today.

“The Scottish Government failed to grasp the fundamental importance that survivors appropriately and justifiably attached to their need for justice, accountability and redress.

Survivor Chris Daly called in a petition to Holyrood in 2002 for the Scottish Government to set up a public inquiry into abuse in children's homes.

“Justice is not a service, and those who call for it where it has been denied are not customers of a service that may or may not be available depending on the choice of the administration of the day. That key point was missed."

Her report published today focuses on evidence given by ministers to a petition made by abuse survivor Chris Daly to the Scottish Parliament back in 2002. 

The judge took evidence from ministers in the Lab/Lib Dem coalition, which was in power to 2007, and from ministers in the SNP, which has been in power since.

She said the petition was "resisted" for too long and she criticised ministers for not probing the work of civil servants and government lawyers.

“Officials and legal advisors wielded significant power and influence. Ministers relied heavily on their advice and generally followed their recommendations," she said.

“By following advice and by not questioning it when they should have done, key aims of the Daly petition were resisted for far too long.”

She added: "She added: “It was clear throughout that the justice survivors were calling for, and was of paramount importance to them, was the need for public acknowledgement of their experiences of being abused as children in institutional care, and the need to hold to account those who did not listen to them when they were children, those responsible for the abuse, and those who failed to prevent the abuse from happening.

“However, between 2002 and 2014, there was no appetite within Scottish Government, at official or ministerial level, for setting up a public inquiry. 

“Between 2002 and 2014 when the Scottish Government announced it was going to set up a public inquiry, a significant number of survivors of childhood abuse in care in Scotland died. For them, justice delayed was justice denied.”

Public hearings in the Scottish Abuse Inquiry took place between November 17 2020 and December 4 2020, during which time it heard evidence from 12 witnesses including former and current ministers as well as Scottish Government officials both remotely and in person. The written statements of  four witnesses were also read in.

Lady Smith will take these findings into account when she analyses all the evidence gathered by the inquiry and decides what recommendations to make in her final report.

Her report today examines ministers' responses up until December 2014 to Daly's petition, first presented to the Public Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament in August 2002. 

It had three key aims:
•    The Scottish Government should establish an inquiry into past institutional child abuse
•    An unreserved apology should be made on behalf of the state
•    The religious orders that had run institutions should be urged to also apologise unconditionally

In her report Lady Smith said the delay was the result of a variety of factors including:
•    some ineptitude
•    some confusion on the part of ministers and officials 
•    diversion into areas that were not the subject of the Daly petition
•    officials urging ministers not to hold an inquiry
•    officials controlling the process up to the point of trying to prevent there being an inquiry
•    ministers following the advice of officials while not reading and trying to understand the Daly petition for themselves
•    both ministers and officials failing to listen to and engage with survivors

Responding to Lady Smith's report today Deputy first minister John Swinney said: 

“The Scottish Government apologises unreservedly that it did not respond more appropriately and sooner to the concerns of survivors of abuse in care who called for a public inquiry.

“Responding to survivors of abuse in care spanned different administrations between 2002 and 2014.  Steps were taken by government to respond in that period but this happened too slowly and did not go far enough – however, an inquiry was announced within weeks of the current First Minister taking office as head of the Government.

“The Scottish Government has sought to deliver positive outcomes for survivors of abuse and established the Inquiry when it became clear that previous initiatives were not enough to provide this acknowledgement and accountability that survivors needed.”

Labour, the Lib Dems and Alex Salmond's Alba have also been asked for a response.