Westminster urged to extend child abuse inquiry to rest of UK

A Home Affairs committee report called for the inquiry to cover Scotland and Northern Ireland, including the claims of abuse at Kincora Boys’ Homein Belfast in the 1970s.

The Home Office said it has noted the report and was considering its recommendations.

The panel was established last year by the home secretary Theresa May (pictured) to find out whether public bodies and institutions failed to protect children from being sexually and otherwise abused.

Inquires have been established in Scotland and Northern Ireland looking into the same issue.

The committee report called for increasing the scope of the main inquiry in part because of claims MI5 were involved in a cover-up of abuse at Kincora.

In 1981 three senior care staff at the home were jailed for the abuse of 11 boys.

Claims have been made people of the “highest profile” were connected with the abuse and that the intelligence services were aware of their involvement.

The report added the main inquiry must liaise with the separate inquiries in Scotland and Northern Ireland “to avoid gaps between the areas covered by the various inquiries”.

The Scottish government announced a statutory public inquiry looking at the historical abuse of children in care in December.

Angela Constance, the Scottish education secretary, said in December the inquiry would have powers to compel witnesses to give evidence.

Ms Constance said: “This parliament must always be on the side of victims of abuse.

“We must have the truth of what happened to them and how those organisations and individuals into whose care the children were entrusted, failed them so catastrophically.

“And to get to that truth, we will be establishing a national public inquiry into historical abuse of children in institutional care.”

She added: “To ensure justice is done, I can tell this chamber that, where crimes are exposed, the full force of the law will be available to bring perpetrators to account.”