Nicola Sturgeon has called for a wider inquiry into how the ashes of cremated babies are disposed of as it emerged that Scotland's largest council is also implicated in the scandal.
The MSP for Glasgow Southside said she wants answers for the O'Rourke family, her constituents, who recently discovered that the remains of their stillborn daughter Maeve were dispersed without their knowledge.
Cairsty O'Rourke said she was never offered Maeve's ashes after she was cremated at Linn Crematorium in Lainshaw Drive, Glasgow in 2009. She later found out they were scattered by "some stranger".
It comes in the wake of the Mortonhall Crematorium scandal in Edinburgh where babies' ashes were secretly buried for decades without the knowledge of their families.
In January former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini was appointed to lead an investigation into practices at Mortonhall but there are now calls for a wider inquiry into procedures at all council-run crematoria.
Ms Sturgeon said: "My constituents' dreadful ordeal in losing a child has been compounded by the discovery that their daughter's ashes, ashes that they had been told would not exist, had been dispersed without their knowledge or consent.
"I believe that my constituents deserve answers to the legitimate questions that they have, questions relating to the practice of telling bereaved parents that there would be no ashes following cremation, even when it is now clear that this was not always the case; the procedures that were, or were not, in place to ensure that parents were given accurate information and that their wishes were ascertained and respected; and the paperwork used to record parents' wishes.
"I have raised these issues with Glasgow City Council on behalf of my constituents. The initial response received does not yet answer their questions to their satisfaction and I will therefore continue to pursue the matter with relevant parties on their behalf.
"However, given the seriousness of the issues involved and the uncertainty around the number of parents in Glasgow who may have had a similar experience to my constituents, I believe that Glasgow City Council should follow the example of City of Edinburgh and order an independent review.
"In their response to my letter which asked if they would order an independent review either on a standalone basis or by asking Dame Elish Angiolini to widen the scope of the inquiry that she will undertake at the request of the City Of Edinburgh, Glasgow City Council said that it had no plans to do so at this time but that they were keeping the matter under review."
Glasgow council has received 19 inquiries from parents about the disposal of their babies' remains. Two of those babies, one of which was Maeve O'Rourke, appear to have had their ashes dispersed without parental consent.
In a statement, Glasgow City Council said: "We are very sorry for any part we have played in the O'Rourkes' distress. However, we faithfully followed the clear instructions given to us by the funeral director.
"We know of no instances of Glasgow City Council staff failing to follow the instructions we were given but, of course, we are keeping matters under review and will look closely at the results of the Edinburgh and Aberdeen inquiries.
"Glasgow City Council has carried out 2,385 infant cremations since 1997. We know of no instances where remains were dispersed when it had been indicated to us that the parents wished them to be returned."
Last week Aberdeen City Council said it is carrying out an audit after freedom of information figures showed 24 babies have been cremated at Aberdeen Crematorium in the last five years but that on no occasions were the ashes given to the families.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council said it has received around 200 inquiries about the disposal of babies' ashes since the Mortonhall scandal emerged in December.
It declined to say how many, if any, were cases in which the children's ashes were disposed of without the parents' knowledge, citing the ongoing Mortonhall inquiry.
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