The Catholic Church in Scotland has been urged to create a stronger independent safeguarding service to help “rebuild trust” following a series of abuse scandals.
An independent review group commissioned by the church wants it to examine the Scottish Catholic safeguarding service (SCSS), saying a strengthened, independent and resourced service is a “crucial step to promote transparency and restore credibility”.
The group, set up by the church in 2017 to monitor its response to a big review of safeguarding and child protection, found a good start had been made on implementing recommendations on ways to improve safeguarding made by the McLellan commission in 2015.
In addition to reviewing the safeguarding service, the independent group makes recommendations in its first report, including on support for abuse