SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Helen McArdle, News Reporter / @HMcardleHT
A LEADING academic has criticised Scottish Government “interference” as he resigned from an historic child abuse inquiry.
Professor Michael Lamb said he was stepping down “with deep regret” from the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, where he was a panel member, saying that it had “become increasingly clear over the last nine months that the Panel cannot act independently” and that the Scottish Government “intends to continue interfering in ways large and small, directly and indirectly”.
Prof Lamb, of Cambridge University, tendered his resignation today in a letter to Deputy First Minister John Swinney.
He stated: “Continuing interference threatens to prevent the Inquiry from investigating thoroughly and taking robust evidence of the highest quality.
“To be worthwhile, the Inquiry must ask fearlessly about what happened to children in care, who and what institutions failed in their duties of care at the time and subsequently, how the affected individuals can ‘be made whole,’ and how we can ensure that such unconscionable events never happen again.
“Crucially, its factfinding should not be constrained or micro-managed by one of the bodies whose actions or failures to act may ultimately be criticised.”
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