A SWATHE of Scotland’s top private schools –including Gordonstoun, Fettes College, Loretto and Merchiston Castle – will be subject to investigations by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
Lady Smith, who was appointed to head the inquiry last July, listed the private boarding schools among charity, church and state-run residential institutions which will be examined as part of the hearings.
In all, the inquiry is aware of more than 100 locations where child abuse is said to have taken place, the judge said.
Major care charities such as Quarriers, Barnardos and Aberlour Child Care Trust will also be scrutinised as well as three Church of Scotland children’s homes, council-run establishments and a large number of institutions run by Catholic orders including the Christian Brothers, the Sisters of Nazareth, the De La Salle Brothers and the Marist Brothers.
Lady Smith declined to say how many people had so far agreed to take part in the inquiry, saying only that 170 people had contacted the inquiry since June last year and “many more have done so since”.
But her fellow panel member Glenn Houston confirmed plans for a publicity campaign to urge more people to come forward to participate.
This will include posters, leaflets and adverts on local radio stations, as well as a summer advertising campaign in bus shelters.
“Very soon you will hear adverts on popular regional radio stations appealing for anyone who was abused as a child in care and members of the public with any relevant information to contact he inquiry team,” Mr Houston said.
“We want people to think about the inquiry and talk about it and to share that information with anyone who may have been affected by the issues we are investigating.”
Dave Sharp, who was abused at St Ninian’s residential school in Falkland, Fife, said the Scottish Government had not done enough to publicise the hearings.
“I think the Scottish Government wants as few people as possible to come forward,” he said.
“Also the inquiry team are people in power, and positions of authority. Those are the very people many survivors are running away from.”
Lady Smith’s first public statement since taking over the inquiry revealed its first public hearings will take place from May 31 initially focusing on research into the nature and effects of abuse, and the development of state care in Scotland.
She confirmed the inquiry does not have the power to offer redress to victims of childhood abuse, or to provide a substitute for criminal trials or civil cases brought against abusers or organisations where abuse took place.
However, she said some recommendations about reparations might be made.
“The terms of the remit do not prevent us from looking broadly at the matter of redress for those who have suffered abuse in care,” she said.
Victims’ groups and individual survivors were frustrated by Lady Smith’s refusal to take questions – she had announced at the outset she would not – and several expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the publicity campaign.
Alan Draper, a spokesman for In Care Abuse Survivors Scotland (Incas), said: “I am disappointed. The impact of ads on bus shelters and radio will be very limited.
“They need to do more to involve survivor groups.”
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