UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Andrew Sparrow, political correspondent
Monday 22 December 2014
A leading organisation representing child abuse victims has welcomed reports that Theresa May, the home secretary, may scrap the abuse inquiry panel so that it can be replaced with a more powerful body.
Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday that he did not know any abuse survivors who had confidence in the panel as it currently exists.
He was speaking after it emerged that more than 60 victims and their representatives had written to the Home Office supporting the call for the panel to be replaced with a statutory inquiry that has the power to call witnesses.
Having to wind up the panel and start again would be an embarrassment for May, who originally announced the inquiry in the summer. On Monday Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP who has played a leading role in campaigning for an inquiry, said the Home Office was making so many mistakes that he was starting to suspect it wanted to stop the inquiry getting to the truth.
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