Scotland's Redress Scheme: combined annual report 2023

6.9 Quarriers

Published Redress Report

Background

The Scottish Parliament has enacted legislation to provide survivors of abuse with the opportunity to seek financial reparation through a national Redress Scheme. The Act places an obligation on participating organisations to submit a report to Scottish Ministers on work undertaken to support survivors, with particular regard to:

• emotional, psychological or practical support provided
• advice and assistance on accessing historical records
• advice and assistance on tracing and reuniting families
• activity relating to the provision of an apology to such individuals.

While Quarriers is not a contributor to the scheme, it is nonetheless good practice to publish an account of the work we undertake to support survivors of abuse.

Investment

In setting the budget for 2022/23, the Quarriers Board of Trustees agreed to invest an additional £100,000 in our Aftercare Service, taking the full-year commitment to £200,000. This investment will be protected as an ongoing commitment, despite challenging financial headwinds.

The additional investment has allowed us to build capacity in our Aftercare team. The team now consists of a Head of Service and two full-time Aftercare Support Workers. Our Aftercare Support Workers assist survivors to access records, provide advocacy support where required, and signpost to other places of support or professional advice in circumstances where that is preferred to in- house support. We have also used this budget to employ a trauma specialist within the organisation.

Inclusion

In order to better inform organisational decision-making, Quarriers has established an aftercare sub-committee of the Board, chaired by the Chief Executive and involving representatives of Former Boys and Girls Abused in Quarriers (FBGA), WhoCares Scotland, Birthlink Scotland, Future Pathways and Wellbeing Scotland. The role of the sub-committee is to advise on the development of our Aftercare Service and to scrutinise its performance. It meets quarterly, and a Terms of Reference and associated minutes are published on Quarriers’ website.

Over the course of the year, the Aftercare Committee has considered proposals to support wider engagement with the survivor community, as well as contributing to thinking about how Quarriers can deepen its commitment to survivor wellbeing through our Aftercare Service and in our role as an employer.

Access to records

Across 2022/23, Quarriers had a total of 87 enquiries from people looking to access information about relatives formerly supported by Quarriers (these are referred to as historical/genealogical enquiries). We also supported a total of 128 individuals to access their own records via subject access requests. At present, the majority of requests relate to people who were resident in Quarriers Village; however, we are starting to see more enquiries relating to services outwith the Village setting (e.g. the former Seafield School in North Ayrshire). We have an ongoing project to digitise and catalogue all of our records. This is being done by a team of volunteers.

Across 2022-23, Quarriers had a total of 138 enquiries from Redress Scotland in support of applicants’ Redress claims. The enquiries relate to the verification of ‘in-care documentation’ and the provision of any civil claim information. The team aims to provide a response to Redress within a 48-hour period where possible.

Within the current and previous quarter, all record access enquiries have been completed within the target four-week period. The majority of enquiries are completed within the first two to three weeks.

Apology

As an organisation, Quarriers continues to offer an unreserved apology to people who were abused in our care.

Across 2022-23, the organisation received three requests from individuals asking for an apology. Quarriers has been able to apologise to two of these individuals.

Reuniting families

Quarriers continues to work with a range of overseas organisations whose primary interest is in the tracing of family connections back to Quarriers. Schemes operating between the 1870s and 1960s led to thousands of children being migrated to Canada and Australia. We have offered an unreserved apology to the children who were migrated by Quarriers, and we acknowledge the impact migration had on children’s lives and those of their descendants.

Over the last 20 years, Quarriers has been engaging with the descendants of migrated children who wished to access records and tell us about how child migration has affected them. We have taken steps to publicise our apology in an effort to reach other former migrants with whom we are not in direct contact, and we continue to offer an aftercare service to those affected. We continue to engage regularly with citizens from overseas in relation to genealogical enquiries and have also had recent contact with Home Children Canada in relation to Quarriers’ WWI Roll of Honours list.

Commemoration

During 2022/23, Quarriers initiated plans to develop a memorial garden that will speak to the contribution of survivors, children migrated to the new world, and people who had a positive experience of growing up in Quarriers Village. We expect that work to be advanced during 2023/24.