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UK News

Catholic Church "let off the hook" in Scottish abuse probe

by Antony Bushfield

It has called for the Scottish Government to include the faith in the country's inquiry into the abuse of children in care.

The independent inquiry will be led by Susan O'Brien QC and will cover allegations of abuse of children in formal institutional care including faith-based organisations, children's homes and secure care as well as those in foster care, long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

It will not cover the wider issue of abuse within the Church and has no powers to look at incidents in parishes or day schools.

INCAS spokesman Alan Draper is quoted by the BBC as saying the inquiry should "fit the purposes of survivors, not those institutions that have failed generations of children".

He said: "We do know, for example, that the Boy Scout organisation and the Catholic Church have failed generations of children and we asked her (Scotland's Education Secretary) to extend the remit.

"She is currently letting them off the hook. This is not justice."

Education Secretary Angela Constance, who announced the government's intention to hold the inquiry in December 2014, said survivors had been engaged with extensively when deciding the remit.

She stressed the inquiry would thoroughly investigate the Catholic Church where it had been involved in the care of children in a residential capacity.

She told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Survivors were saying to me that they did not want to lose hope - they wanted an inquiry that was broad enough but was going to be able to report back within a meaningful time scale and make very clear and meaningful recommendations that would make sure that past injustices were addressed and, crucially, that the children of today would be protected.

"As a government we are determined to make substantial progress and to support survivors with this public statutory inquiry, probably Scotland's biggest ever inquiry."

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