SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
BARONESS Helen Liddell – former Scottish Secretary and former aide to Robert Maxwell – is used to taking on some of the trickier appointments in public life, but she has started her latest one with some tough talking. As chair of the group overseeing the response of the Catholic Church in Scotland to historic sex abuse, Baroness Liddell says there will be no box-ticking. Writing in The Herald, she also promises that, although a Catholic herself, she will be independent and fearless. A light will be shone into every corner of church procedure, she says.
Naturally, it is going to take time to judge whether the Independent Review Group under Baroness Liddell can be as effective she promises it will be, but in laying out an uncompromising manifesto, its first chair is off to a good start. The credibility of the Catholic Church in Scotland rests on it doing everything possible to ensure abuse does not happen again. Baroness Liddell is also right to say solace and support must be provided to survivors.
However, in taking on the job, Baroness Liddell also appears to acknowledge that the process so far has not always been handled as well as it could have been. Last month, Dr Andrew McLellan, chair of the commission which investigated abuse in the Church and recommended the establishment of the review group, said the process was not proceeding as it should. Dr McLellan and six other members of the commission said a lack of action by the bishops was in danger of confirming survivors’ fears that the recommendations for change would be ignored. It was a serious accusation from a respected figure.
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