Lady Smith

Lady Smith, chair of the inquiry, made the comments in relation to the Scottish government’s response to a petition made to Holyrood in 2002 seeking the establishment of an inquiry.

She said: “For far too long survivors’ voices were not listened to, nor heard; they were treated as if their views did not matter and as if they were not worth listening to, just as when they were abused in care.

“The Scottish government failed to grasp the fundamental importance that survivors appropriately and justifiably attached to their need for justice, accountability and redress.

“Justice is not a service, and those who call for it where it has been denied are not customers of a service that may or may not be available depending on the choice of the administration of the day. That key point was missed.

“Officials and legal advisors wielded significant power and influence. Ministers relied heavily on their advice and generally followed their recommendations.

“By following advice and by not questioning it when they should have done, key aims of the Daly petition were resisted for far too long.”

Public hearings took place between 17 November 2020 and 4 December 2020, during which time the inquiry heard evidence from 12 witnesses including former and current ministers as well as Scottish government officials both remotely and in person. The written statements of four witnesses were also read in.

The judge, who retires from the Inner House this year, added: “It was clear throughout that the justice survivors were calling for, and was of paramount importance to them, was the need for public acknowledgement of their experiences of being abused as children in institutional care, and the need to hold to account those who did not listen to them when they were children, those responsible for the abuse, and those who failed to prevent the abuse from happening.

“However, between 2002 and 2014, there was no appetite within Scottish government, at official or ministerial level, for setting up a public inquiry.

She attributed the delay to factors including “some ineptitude” and “officials urging ministers not to hold an inquiry”.

“Between 2002 and 2014 when the Scottish government announced it was going to set up a public inquiry, a significant number of survivors of childhood abuse in care in Scotland died. For them, justice delayed was justice denied.”

Lord McConnell, who was first minister between 2001 and 2007, said: “Lady Smith has drawn important conclusions based on the evidence she has heard and I thank her for that.

“The judgments made by my ministers were made in good faith within a complex legal environment.

“The delays in communication and the way decision-making was managed were not acceptable then or now.”