Representatives of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry have rejected claims that security lapses have undermined its work.
After a newspaper reported that a door at the inquiry had been left unlocked, potentially allowing access to confidential files, a spokesman denied there had been any risk of access to such files, adding that "rigorous security measures" were always in place.
Reports also stated that details of data protection errors had been sent to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), including one in which a letter about evidence given by an abuse victim was sent to the wrong address and another in which confidential information was sent to a former panel member, even though he had left the inquiry team.
SCAI confirmed the breaches had taken place, but said they had been brought to the attention of the ICO by the inquiry itself. Meanwhile the a door mistakenly left unlocked overnight is understood to have also been protected by the need for a pin code and swipe card held only by staff members.
A spokesperson for the SCAI said: "At no point has the inquiry office been left unsecured and a range of rigorous security measures have always been in place.
"We take data protection extremely seriously and would self-report any breach as soon as possible."
He said the information commissioner had already examined two of the reported breaches and decided no further action was necessary. "In relation to the self-reports we have made, we took all the appropriate steps to remedy matters and reiterated to all staff the strict procedures that are in place to ensure data is always handled correctly and securely."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here