Chamber and committees

Well, it did not run out.

In relation to the level of financial redress that will be available to individuals, some of the detail is already set out in the 2021 act. Any further detail will relate to individual circumstances and applications that are made through the framework that has been legislated for by the Parliament. In the course of the next few months, before the formal establishment of the scheme, further information will be shared about the basis on which payments will be made.

In relation to the advance payment scheme, the issues that have affected the judgments around the scheme have principally related to ineligibility in relation to some of the fundamental criteria on age and condition. Those have been the principal factors. Other factors will relate to quality of evidence, but the overwhelming majority of cases for which any evidence is available have been approved.

As members will understand, there have been particular challenges over the past 12 months because of the need to physically access documents that have been literally inaccessible to some organisations because of Covid restrictions. We have, by exception, allowed a certain number of civil servants into an office environment, to scrutinise documents for the purposes of the advance payment scheme. We have not generally made such arrangements available to other civil servants, but we did it for that scheme. We have taken measures to try to make sure that, despite Covid, there was no interruption to the ability to meet the requirements of the advance payment scheme.

On whether there is a need to broaden eligibility, I am not persuaded by the argument that has been put forward. The fact that we will have a scheme in place before the end of the year gives me reassurance that we can meet the expectations of survivors.

We recognise the difficulties that some applicants will face in finding evidence. They will be provided with assistance from officials in sourcing or accessing records. Indeed, some of the challenges that we have been wrestling with during the period of Covid have been about trying to assist individuals in accessing, as part of the process, documentation that is held by third-party organisations. The act creates the criminal offence of failing to comply with a request for information that would be relevant to such an application. There are strong aspects of legal enforcement.

In exceptional circumstances, redress Scotland has sufficient discretion to disregard evidence requirements if it is satisfied that the case merits an award. That approach is similar to some of the characteristics of evidence taking that have been adopted in the Scottish child abuse inquiry, which has been chaired by Lady Smith and which has taken a very considered approach to the gathering of evidence in that respect.

The inclusion of the requirement for all the approaches to be founded on compassion, dignity and respect was the product of an amendment lodged by Clare Adamson during the consideration of the bill in the previous session. In my closing speech of the bill proceedings, I made it clear that that had been the critical amendment of the whole bill process, because it had placed a requirement for those characteristics—those values—to be embedded in the construction of the scheme.

In my conversation with Johnny Gwynne, he used those words to describe to me the values that would be central to his leadership of redress Scotland. Given the significance of those words in the legislation and in Johnny Gwynne’s approach to leadership, I am confident that those values will be embedded in the culture and working practices of redress Scotland, which is critical to meeting the needs of survivors.

A number of such services are facilitated by a number of the organisations that Sarah Boyack mentioned, such as Future Pathways. We try to put in place interventions that meet the needs of individuals who are trying to address trauma, and to provide the necessary support. Those services will continue under the umbrella of redress Scotland so that there is continuity of provision for individuals.

As we know from the evidence that was gathered during the passage of the bill, survivors face many obstacles and it often takes a long time before they are able to begin even to think about their suffering. New individuals will come forward in need of support, and that support will be made available to them.

I do not want to give Christine Grahame a definitive answer, because it is probably not appropriate for me to do so. It would be appropriate for her constituent to make the necessary application to redress Scotland in due course and to set out the circumstances that she has recounted. Every effort will be made to try to address the suffering of individuals, and there may well be cases of the type that she raises that perhaps stretch the margins of the legislation and its criteria. I assure her that all such cases will be considered carefully and sensitively by redress Scotland.

I can put Mr Johnson’s mind at rest about the timescale for the appointment of the chief executive and for the legislation.

The chief executive interviews will be on Monday and a fabulous range of candidates have come forward. I am confident that an appointment will be made; the panel will have a difficult choice to make, which is encouraging.

I am confident that we have enough time to deal with the statutory instruments after the summer recess. Mr Johnson will be aware that there has been some criticism of the amount of time that we are spending considering instruments before the summer recess and I do not want to add to that in another sphere.

The organisation will be up and running and receiving applications as quickly as possible. December is the latest date; I hope that we can do it earlier. I cannot give a definitive answer on when the first applications will be processed and approved, but I assure Mr Johnson that the history of transactions through the advance payment scheme shows that decisions under the scheme were made pretty swiftly—some were made in a matter of days.

Provided that we put the necessary foundations in place, we can be confident that the work can be taken forward in a way that provides swift responses to individuals who apply.

I thank Mr Greene for his on-going support of the work that is to be tackled and the appointment of Johnny Gwynne.

I have discussed with Johnny Gwynne the approach that will be required in redress Scotland. As a long-serving public servant, he is aware of the importance of having the characteristics of empathy, justice, fairness, dignity and compassion at the heart of the scheme, and I am confident that he will ensure that they are instilled in redress Scotland.

We have had extensive discussions with a range of organisations. I cannot give Mr Greene a precise number just now, but we are having a number of what I would describe as positive conversations with contributors about their contributions to the scheme. We will share information about the success of those conversations on an on-going basis, to reassure members and survivors about the degree of engagement that is taking place.

On the issue of public awareness, we will undoubtedly be running a public awareness campaign. Later this month, we will start to recruit individuals for the panels that will be required. That will be the first part of the public awareness work, and maximising the number of applications will be a major priority.

I am heartened by the fact that we have had so many applications to the advance payment scheme, and encouraged that our communication has been effective in reaching individuals, which must be ever more so when it comes to the full redress scheme.

I think that all the organisations that Sarah Boyack mentioned benefit from public funding to carry out their activities. It is clear that there is a need for constancy of support provision for survivors. Survivors need to be assured that they have access to that constancy of support in which they trust. Specific assistance will be available through the channels of redress Scotland as well, but it is important that survivors are supported by individuals whom they trust and have confidence in.

Over the next few months, as staff are recruited to redress Scotland—staff will be recruited to fit with the values of compassion, dignity and respect—I suspect and hope that there will be a lot of collaborative working with organisations that are supporting survivors, to ensure that individuals are assisted to bring forward and be successful in their applications. That has very much been the working ethos of the advance payment scheme.

That will be one of the requirements that we will build into the operating processes of redress Scotland. We will gather evidence from the extent of contributions made by organisations. That will be supplemented by individuals’ and applicants’ experience, and we will gather data, evidence and perspectives on the significance of the waiver in the judgments that individuals are making. Over that 18-month period, there will be a need to gather evidence of the effect of the waiver and to formulate a review that will be published and which Parliament will, of course, be able to consider. If any action is required in the light of that review, Parliament will be able to take the necessary action.