Yousaf could be questioned over Fornethy compensation eligibility – rebel MSP

A prominent minister-turned-SNP rebel has raised the prospect of calling the First Minister to appear before a Holyrood committee after Fornethy House survivors were barred from a Government compensation scheme.

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison previously said the 200 women who have come forward with allegations of abuse at the residential home in Kilry, Angus, will not be able to apply to Redress Scotland as a result.

Appearing before the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee last month, Ms Robison said the scheme was intended for those in long-term residential care and that Fornethy House records had been destroyed, meaning survivors were unlikely to meet the evidentiary requirements for compensation and refused to change the eligibility criteria.

The Deputy First Minister’s stance was at odds with her predecessor John Swinney, who guided the Bill which created Redress Scotland through Holyrood.

Appearing before Holyrood’s education committee last year, Mr Swinney said: “I reject the idea that the scheme is not for Fornethy survivors; I think that it is possible for Fornethy survivors to be successful in applying under the scheme.”

While he went on to say the scheme was set up for those who were placed in care institutions by the state, Mr Swinney said he found it difficult to reconcile placing a young person in Fornethy House with “some sort of voluntary endeavour”.

At a meeting of the same committee on Wednesday, members raised a number of possible next moves for the petition – which was lodged by a group of Fornethy House survivors in 2022 – including holding a debate in the Holyrood chamber and calling Redress Scotland to appear before them.

But Fergus Ewing, the stalwart SNP MSP-turned party rebel suggested they could take their concerns to the top of Government.

“I think the suggestion that we raise with John Swinney the apparent contradiction between the positions adopted by the two deputy first ministers – the current and the previous – is an excellent one,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, where the second-in-commands adopt two apparently different positions, what do you do? You go to the boss.”

While acknowledging that the two featured in different administrations, Mr Ewing added: “I think we should indicate that we might be minded to seek evidence from the First Minister if we can’t get justice for the people that are here today and those that cannot be with us.”

Mr Ewing added that the arguments from Ms Robison were “unsupportable, unjustifiable and inexcusable and quite impossible to defend on any basis, frankly”.

Also appearing before the committee on Wednesday, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton, who is assisting campaigners in their plight, urged the Scottish Government to reconsider.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “It would be a grave injustice to bar these women from the Redress scheme.

“I hope that today that the committee recognises the stories of these courageous women and at the very least allow them to tell their story to the world, to recognise their victimhood and to recognise that this Redress scheme should apply to them.”

Responding, the Deputy First Minister said in a statement: “Abuse of children at Fornethy House should never have happened and I am profoundly sorry for what the survivors endured as children and the impact this abuse has had on their lives.

“Both the First Minister and I have met with the survivors, and I commend their courage in sharing their experiences.

“The independent report is clear children attended Fornethy House primarily on a short-term basis for convalescence or a recuperative holiday under arrangements involving their parent or guardian and another person.

“Those circumstances, as agreed by the Scottish Parliament, are excluded from the redress scheme which is designed primarily to provide acknowledgement of the harm that has been caused for survivors of historical child abuse who were in long-term care.

“I recognise the outcome of the independent inquiries will be disappointing to Fornethy House survivors who seek redress.

“Let me be clear, the findings are in no way intended to diminish the experiences of the survivors or to suggest parents of these children were in any way responsible for the experiences they endured during their time at Fornethy House.”