The next item of business is a statement by Michael Matheson on the Scottish Government’s response to the infant cremation commission. As the minister will take questions at the end of his statement, there should be no interventions or interruptions.
14:15
I want to start with a recognition—no action that I can take today or words of comfort that I can offer will ever truly salve the pain of families who not only lost their precious children, but had to bear the burden of doubt about what happened to the ones they loved. That said, I offer my heartfelt condolences as a minister, as a member of this Parliament and as a father.
Since this issue first came to light, I have been clear that two areas need to be addressed and that steps have to be taken to ensure, first, that what happened can never be repeated, and secondly, that, as far as is possible, families who seek answers in their own cases can get them. The foundation for putting those safeguards in place has been the work of the infant cremation commission under the leadership of Lord Bonomy, and I take this opportunity to thank all the commission members, and those who submitted evidence to it, for their efforts. Lord Bonomy provided the commission’s final report to the Scottish Government last Thursday afternoon and it was published in full this morning.
During the process, Lord Bonomy visited a number of crematoriums across Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom and spoke to professionals across the health, funeral and cremation fields. The commission itself has analysed a large volume of documentation and information, and it has made 64 recommendations to prevent any repetition of these events. The Scottish Government has accepted those recommendations in full and without reservation.
Lord Bonomy made certain that parents had a voice in this process. He met parents on a number of occasions, including in the last month, when he shared with them a draft of his report for comment. The central focus on the bereaved family is reflected in the commission’s very first recommendation, which clearly states that the interests of the child and the bereaved family should be the central focus at all times.
Today we have published a response to each and every recommendation, setting out what we will do and when we will do it. Although not all the recommendations are directly for Government, our role will be to ensure that progress is made. The proposals that I am about to outline to the Parliament were agreed this morning by the Cabinet, which was chaired by the First Minister from Kirkwall, a commitment that he had made to the parents with whom we met on Thursday.
We will take forward a number of actions immediately. A number of recommendations highlight the need for a renewed legislative framework, not least in respect of the current definition of “ashes” as set down in the Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 1935. That definition is not fit for purpose; indeed, Dame Elish Angiolini identified the same issue in her report on Mortonhall.
It is likely that most, if not all, of the changes to law will require primary legislation. We are already committed to bringing forward a new burials and cremations bill, and we will publish a consultation on that new legislation by the end of this year. In the meantime, we will act to ensure that the operation of all crematoriums will already be compliant with the new legislative provisions when they come into force. Good practice does not need to wait for legislation.
The commission also recommends the establishment of a national committee, chaired by the Scottish Government, to have oversight in this area. We will begin work on establishing that committee immediately, with the first meeting taking place, if at all possible, over the summer. Affected parents will be key members of that group; indeed, they will be involved in all the activities that we undertake to respond to the commission’s recommendations.
A key first task will be to respond to recommendation 61, which asks the national committee to develop a code of practice for infant cremations. That will set out the minimum standards and best practice in relation to infant cremations. As I have already said, good practice does not need to wait for legislation, so the work on the code of practice will be prioritised. The code of practice will provide a robust foundation for all activities in this area.
The commission has also recommended that an inspector of crematoria be appointed with responsibility to monitor working practices at crematoria and with the authority to investigate complaints. I fully support that, and we will work to put the role in place as quickly as possible. Through the proposed legislation, we will also create powers to extend that inspection function to the funeral industry, as the commission recommends, to ensure that all parts of the cremation process are subject to independent scrutiny.
That work for the future is crucial, but for many parents questions remain about what happened in the past. Just last week, we learned about further allegations emerging in relation to Hazlehead crematorium in Aberdeen. Last year, Lord Bonomy published guidance for local authorities and private crematoria, advising how they should establish independent investigations where they were required, just as the City of Edinburgh Council established the independent investigation by Dame Elish Angiolini into the cases and practices at Mortonhall. It is very disappointing that every other affected cremation authority did not follow Lord Bonomy’s guidance and launch an independent investigation in the same way that Edinburgh did.
As I said earlier, the First Minister and I met some of the parents last week, and I welcome that a number of those parents are in the Parliament today to hear this statement. Last week, the parents told me that many of them still did not have the answers they needed about their own case. They spoke about having nowhere to go and not knowing where to turn, and they spoke very movingly about having to carry the burden of trying to find out what happened to their babies.
Every parent who has concerns must have their case investigated and they must get the individualised response that they need. The Edinburgh investigation provided that for the families affected by Mortonhall, and I believe that every family must have this same opportunity. For that reason, I am announcing today that we will launch an independent national investigation team, and I am grateful that Dame Elish Angiolini has kindly agreed to lead this work for us. Dame Elish and her team will be able to look at every document and every record. They will interview every concerned family and will expect to speak to any officials or staff members who may hold information. They will be able to investigate cremations in local authority crematoria and private crematoria. They will be able to look at the national health service and funeral directors as well as crematoria. Parents can be reassured that every step will be taken in order to find out what happened to their babies.
In addition to the investigation of individual cases, following last week’s announcement by Aberdeen City Council, I believe that there is now particular concern about practices at Hazlehead crematorium. Accordingly, Dame Elish has agreed that her investigation will look more broadly at practices there. If issues emerge in the course of the investigation about other crematoria, those too will be interrogated.
I should add that the remit for Dame Elish’s investigation will also include the requirement to refer to the Lord Advocate any evidence of criminality for investigation by Police Scotland. That is in keeping with the Mortonhall investigation remit.
The national investigation team is in place now, and parents can, from today, notify us if they wish their case to be investigated. They can do that by completing a simple form that is available on the Scottish Government website or that can be sent to them by post. It is difficult to know at this point how many parents will come forward, but we will support this work however long it takes.
This is not the end of the road, but the Mortonhall investigation and the cremation commission report are significant stepping stones along the way to where we want to go. However, we are not there yet and there is much still to be done. There are new laws to make, there are procedures and processes to update and there are individual cases and crematoria that we will now investigate.
Sadly, some parents will never know what happened to their children, but I hope that those parents recognise that we will do all that we can for them to get the answers that are available. I hope that all parents will recognise that the important legacy of the past 18 months is that this will never be able to happen again.
The minister will now take questions on the issues that have been raised in his statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business.
I associate myself and my party with the minister’s opening words, recognising the enormity of what has happened to these families. The pain and suffering that they have experienced through the loss of a child have been exacerbated by the baby ashes scandal and not knowing what has happened to their child’s remains. We can sympathise, but we have not walked in their shoes and will never understand what they have gone through.
I welcome the report and its 64 recommendations. I also welcome the fact that the Government accepts them all and acknowledges the need for all those actions in recognition of the central role of the bereaved parents in any future changes. Scottish Labour welcomes the proposal for new legislation, and we will fully support its introduction subject to the usual parliamentary scrutiny. We also share the view that good practice does not need to wait for legislation and that it should be shared outwith Scotland. Any legislative and non-legislative developments should be shared throughout the UK and abroad to help to prevent other families, wherever they live, from having to go through what these Scottish parents have gone through. I am very pleased that the parents will be part of the national committee that will be established, and I ask the minister to ensure that a broad geographical spread of parents be represented on it.
The report recommends that a code of practice be developed. Can the minister advise how long it might take to have that drawn up and implemented? When will the new inspector of crematoria be appointed and who will he or she be accountable to? We are pleased that the independent national investigation team will be able to investigate all cases and try to find out what happened to every child. It is right that Dame Elish Angiolini will be able to look at those cases and the happenings at Hazlehead in Aberdeen—a case that has caused real concern to families in that city and beyond.
Although this is a good report, for which I commend the Government, I do not think that we will get all the answers until we have a full public inquiry. Will the minister and the Scottish Government reconsider their position on such an inquiry?
I thank the member for his support for Lord Bonomy’s report. We should all be grateful for the work that the commission has undertaken and the way in which it has conducted the process of engaging with families.
The member spoke about sharing good practice across the UK. As he will be aware, Lord Bonomy has highlighted the issue of whether we should share the report’s advice and information with our counterparts in the rest of the UK, and we are more than willing to do that in a proactive way to ensure that they consider our findings and the work that we are undertaking to see whether they can learn any lessons. We do not want to see what happened in some of our crematoria in Scotland repeated anywhere else.
The establishment of the national committee is a key recommendation of Lord Bonomy—it is recommendation 57 in the report—and it is important that we achieve that as quickly as possible because of the role that the committee will have in developing an action plan for implementing all the recommendations. We want that committee to be made up of all the different stakeholders, including those parents who can be involved in it, and I am more than happy to look at the geographical spread of the parents who can be members of the committee. I also want the membership to include representative organisations from health, the funeral industry and local authorities, all of which have a part to play in taking the agenda forward.
An important part of the national committee’s early work will be the code of practice. If we establish that code of practice at an early stage, the measures that we will implement through legislation will already be in place. In effect, the legislation will underpin the good practice in the code of practice. The committee will have to advise us of the timeframe, but we are keen for the code of practice to be drawn up as quickly as possible. We want the committee to have a reasonable timeframe that allows it to carry out what will be a complex piece of work, but to undertake it as quickly as it can.
The inspector of crematoria will be accountable to the Scottish Government and will be independent in the role that they undertake. I am keen to accept Lord Bonomy’s recommendation that we should look at how we can extend that inspection role to the funeral industry more generally, but that will require primary legislation. We will take that forward in the burials and cremations bill when it comes before the Parliament.
The member’s final point was about a public inquiry. It is extremely important that the families can have a full, thorough and rigorous investigation into their circumstances carried out. As I said in my previous statement on Mortonhall, a public inquiry would not deliver that for individual families. However, the national investigation unit will be able to ensure that a detailed, forensic examination is carried out in each case.
Of course, if something comes to light in the course of Elish Angiolini’s work that leads us to think that more must be done, we will consider that, but I believe that the very detailed work that Lord Bonomy has undertaken, along with the investigation work that Dame Elish Angiolini will now undertake, will provide us with a comprehensive picture of what has and what has not happened effectively in our crematorium system in Scotland.
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement.
This has been one of the most distressing, depressing and gruesome episodes that the Parliament has seen. It has been distressing because, for the many parents involved, events unravelled like a bolt out of the blue, plunging them back into a grief that many of them had fought hard to come to terms with. It has been depressing because, however much we might wish it otherwise, the approach that has been shown to have been taken to these matters has involved a scale of indifference of a different era, and because that practice was allowed to rumble on into what is an entirely different era, in which people have an entirely different view of how such matters should be dealt with. It has been gruesome because the nature of everything that we are speaking about is intensely personal and intensely difficult.
I welcome Lord Bonomy’s report and I welcome the Government’s response and acceptance of all the provisions and recommendations in it. I assure the minister that he will have our support in progressing all the recommendations as quickly as possible.
The Scottish Conservatives have previously called for a public inquiry, but in the light of the reports from Dame Elish Angiolini and Lord Bonomy we are now persuaded that, although a public inquiry should never be ruled out, the best possible hope for parents who seek a resolution of their personal circumstances lies with the independent national investigation team. The minister has our support for the establishment of that body.
On all these matters, will the minister undertake to work with all sides to ensure that the widest possible parliamentary support can be achieved with a sense of purpose and without further delay?
I welcome the member’s comments. Like him, I recognise the real difficulty that has been caused for many families who thought that they had dealt with their grief many decades ago, but who have found themselves revisiting it. I particularly welcome his recognition of the value of the national investigation team and the fact that someone of Dame Elish Angiolini’s standing and knowledge in the field will undertake such investigation for each and every family affected.
I give Jackson Carlaw and all members an assurance that we will work on a cross-party basis to take forward this agenda to ensure that we have the right policies and practice and the right system of accountability in place, so that people can have faith and confidence in how the process works in the future. I am sure that all of us are united in our determination to ensure that the events that we are discussing this afternoon can never happen again and that, if this deeply depressing episode has a legacy, it is that we have in place a system that has the right safeguards to ensure that that is the case. I have no doubt that all parties have a part to play in assisting us to achieve that goal.
On implementing Lord Bonomy’s recommendation to appoint an independent inspector who will monitor the working practices and standards of crematoria, can the minister provide further detail on how it is envisaged the inspector will take forward the investigation of complaints from the public, when the complaints process will be up and running, and what steps the inspector will take to provide feedback to cremation authorities on their performance? It strikes me that those are all vital measures that—I hope—can go some way to restoring public confidence.
We will move forward with the inspector as quickly as we can within the existing powers that we have in relation to crematoria and cremation authorities.
In terms of extending inspection into the wider funeral industry, we will require primary legislation in order to make the inspection much more comprehensive. However, our intention is to have an inspection regime that allows the inspector to be able to undertake detailed inspections of policy and practice within any crematorium in Scotland and to investigate any issues without fear or favour.
Equally, when a family or a relative have a point of complaint, we want to ensure that they will be able to refer that directly to the inspector and for the inspector to have the responsibility to investigate that as well.
The inspector’s role will be not to look at historical matters, which will be the responsibility of Dame Elish Angiolini and the national inspection team, but to ensure that any complaints from now on are investigated thoroughly and independently. The inspector will report to us on a regular basis on the findings from the inspection of cremation authorities and on any complaints that are investigated as well.
What timescale has the minister set out for putting in place the review of training for health professionals and for updating publications to ensure that bereaved parents and families get the right support and guidance, as referred to at paragraphs 2.1 and 2.54 of Lord Bonomy’s report? What support will there be for groups such as the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society—SANDS—and the Miscarriage Association to contribute to that work?
One of the things that I will be doing this afternoon is writing to all the agencies that have a role to play in implementing Lord Bonomy’s recommendations, which include our NHS chief executives, those involved in support organisations and the third sector, so that they will feed into the national committee on the progress that they make in implementing the recommendations. Many recommendations, such as those that Sarah Boyack mentioned, do not require any form of legislation, and we want to see those changes implemented immediately.
In relation to organisations such as SANDS that can assist in implementing the recommendations, I would expect them to be part of the process of shaping any type of information that is delivered to parents who are affected by a bereavement and that their expertise and advice will be used when shaping information and advice documentation. I will write today to all organisations that will have a part to play to set out the key recommendations that I will ask them to implement immediately and then feed their response into the national committee, which will be responsible for monitoring and for driving forward any further work that is required in this area.
The minister mentioned the establishment of an inspector of crematoria. Can he clarify whether it is his intention to establish or extend legislative requirements so that he will, in effect, give a legal basis to the powers that he might confer on the inspector?
We have a range of powers under the 1935 cremation regulations for regulating and investigating crematoria. However, in order for inspections to take place in a comprehensive way and to extend them to the whole pathway, we need to ensure that the inspection purpose covers the funeral industry and funeral directors. In order to achieve that we will require primary legislation, which will be a key part of the new legislation that we intend to bring before the Parliament.
Obviously, there are wider issues in relation to regulation in the funeral industry, so the consultation will be drafted in a way that will allow individuals and groups to express their views on what further regulation may be required in the funeral industry in Scotland. We will consider whether that should be included in any future legislation in order to ensure that the public can have confidence in the funeral industry in Scotland in a comprehensive way by there being an investigation process for inspection and the establishment of an appropriate regulatory process for the system.
I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement, and I welcome the report and its recommendations, which I am glad that the Government will implement. I offer the Liberal Democrats’ support for progressing the proposed legislation.
The minister said that every family must have their case investigated and I agree entirely. However, it seems unlikely that we can rely on good will for people to provide evidence that might incriminate them. Will the minister explain what powers the national investigation team will possess to give it the required teeth to compel people to provide evidence, which will ensure that the investigations are robust and forensic and obtain the answers that the affected families deserve?
Under the 1935 regulations, the Scottish ministers have powers to compel people to provide documentation that relates to the cremation process. Those powers will be conferred on the national investigation unit, which will be able to compel the production of documentation and information from any cremation authority on any case that it is investigating.
Members should also take some reassurance from the fact that, when Dame Elish Angiolini investigated the Mortonhall situation and during Lord Bonomy’s investigation for the infant cremation commission, at no point was any resistance met from any party to providing information or responding to the investigations. I have no reason to believe that anyone would wish to resist any further independent investigations by the investigation unit.
I am assured that everyone will wish to comply with the unit. Ministers’ powers to compel the production of documents and information will be conferred on the unit, so that it can compel the provision of information as required.
My constituent Nicola Merchant is in the public gallery. She lost her little boy, Liam, in 2002. He was born 16 weeks early and survived for just six hours.
The minister referred to the fresh allegations about the reported practice at Hazlehead crematorium of cremating babies alongside adults. That has caused Nicola Merchant and many other parents enormous concern, and it has led to serious questions about what happened to their babies.
Given that the recent Aberdeen City Council audit failed to identify such practices, I welcome the news that the national investigation team will investigate the broad practices that were in operation at Hazlehead crematorium. Will the minister provide the reassurance that that will not prevent individual cases that relate to the facility from being investigated at the same time? Will the national investigation team’s contact details be distributed to MSPs, so that we can assist in putting them out to constituents whom we are in contact with?
Since Aberdeen City Council made the announcement last week on the allegations about Hazlehead crematorium, we have been in touch with it to clarify that the practice that the allegations concerned no longer continues, and the council has confirmed that that is the case. We were also in touch with the council today to advise it that the national investigation unit is being established. The council’s acting chief executive welcomed that and accepted that the unit would provide an appropriate way to investigate the activities at Hazlehead properly and thoroughly.
The national investigation unit will investigate individual cases. When it becomes apparent from a case that activities, practices or policies in a crematorium require further investigation, the investigation will be taken into the crematorium itself and will look at matters in great detail.
Given the concerns that have been highlighted about the situation in Aberdeen, Dame Elish Angiolini has recognised the need for further investigation into activities there. She will make that an early part of the inquiries that she will undertake.
The unit will consider individual cases and the detailed policies and practices that relate to individual cases. Often, it will be an individual case that gives rise to concerns about policies and practices in a crematorium, which will lead to further detailed investigation into those practices and policies.
I understand that a one-year time limit was in place for bereaved parents to make representations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and that the one-year period began when parents became aware of the wrong within. I was surprised to learn that one local authority has chosen not to waive the one-year time limit, and that is now affecting my constituents’ cases. Does the minister share the frustration of parents in Falkirk who have lost a child, who have every right to know what happened to their baby’s ashes regardless of how long that takes? Will the Scottish Government urge all local authorities to waive any time limits that may exist?
I am already dealing with some constituency cases because Falkirk crematorium is based in my constituency. I can assure the member that the investigation that the national investigations unit will undertake will look at cases that go back several decades. No matter when a particular case occurred, the unit will investigate it in the same way as Dame Elish carried out the investigation into Mortonhall.
Once that investigation has been conducted, if there are any concerns that activity could be interpreted as criminal, it will be referred to the Lord Advocate to decide whether Police Scotland has to investigate the matter further. The national investigations unit can look at cases that go back many decades if necessary, and if parents experienced issues several decades ago, the unit will investigate them in great detail.
Like Mr McDonald, I am extremely concerned about the new allegations that are emerging in Aberdeen; they are extremely worrying for families in the north-east of Scotland.
Will Dame Elish’s independent national investigation team’s inquiry into Hazlehead run parallel to the current council inquiry or will it take over the council inquiry completely?
Will a whistleblowing policy be put in place so that former and current staff and officials can contact the council team directly, or the new inspector when he or she is in post?
Although Aberdeen City Council indicated that it intended to undertake an investigation following the allegations that it received last week, it has not, as yet, put anyone in place. Following a discussion that my officials had with the acting chief executive of Aberdeen City Council, it has accepted that the most appropriate way for the allegations about Hazlehead crematorium to be investigated is through the national investigations unit, which will be led by Dame Elish Angiolini. We are not anticipating a second investigation to be undertaken in Aberdeen now that the national investigations unit has been established.
Kevin Stewart’s second point about whistleblowing is very valid. Once the national inspector has been put in place, an important part of their role will be to ensure that there is an opportunity for anyone who has concerns or issues that they want to raise to contact the inspector to flag them up. I have no doubt that, once the inspector is in place, they will wish to ensure that they give an opportunity to anyone who might wish to raise concerns with them, whether they be families or staff, to do so confidentially so that they can consider whether further investigations are required.
The minister has served Parliament well with the sentiments that he has expressed today and the response that he has outlined on behalf of the Scottish Government. He will appreciate that those of us who have supported a public inquiry have done so because it was the call of the affected parents. Does the minister envisage that the work of the investigations unit will lead to a full public report with the same care for privacy that was displayed in relation to Mortonhall? That would help us all to understand the scale of the scandal and tragedy and give recognition to the parents who have borne the suffering.
We expect the national investigations unit to operate by providing the appropriate information and documentation to the affected family so that it can consider it and decide whether to engage in dialogue with the national investigations unit to provide any further information.
We also expect that, at the end of the process, the information will be drawn together comprehensively and submitted to Scottish ministers. I expect the report to cover many of the issues that have already been highlighted in the Mortonhall report and in the report that Lord Bonomy has just completed.
Drawing together all the information will be useful in highlighting any further factors that need to be taken into account. If there are any outstanding issues that the national investigations unit believes the Scottish Government should address, we will act quickly to respond to those as and when they arise.
I apologise for missing the start of the statement.
I welcome the national investigation team’s work with the Glasgow answers for ashes parents, which I know is very important to those parents. It is also important to ensure that a similar tragedy does not happen to another generation of parents.
Concerns have been raised that Daldowie crematorium in Glasgow may have difficulties—as may other crematoria—in meeting a number of the recommendations in Lord Bonomy’s report, and that its current practices may still need improvement.
What support can the Scottish Government provide to local authorities and crematoria, working constructively in partnership, without diminishing the primary responsibility of local authorities to get it right?
Today I will write to every cremation authority, including those held by local authorities, setting out the key recommendations that we are asking them to implement immediately. That will include Glasgow City Council and any other cremation authority in Scotland that is responsible for running a crematorium.
It is important that we do not wait until legislation is in place. As I have said to members, we intend to get the national committee up and running and the code of practice in place as quickly as we can to ensure that there is a consistent approach to practice and policy throughout the country. The national committee will be key in supporting us to achieve that so that, by the time we come to legislate, policy and practice will already have changed.
Lord Bonomy’s recommendations will be intimated today to the cremation authority that is responsible for Daldowie crematorium, and we will be asking it to implement those forthwith and to make any required changes to its policy and practices.
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