UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
June 28 2017
The Times
The public inquiry into child abuse has spent £35 million in two years without producing a single report.
Figures published yesterday by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) show expenditure of £20.8 million in 2016-17 including more than £9 million on staff and £5.1 million on lawyers.
Salary costs include £165,000 in pay and allowances to the New Zealander Dame Lowell Goddard from April 1 last year until her abrupt resignation as chairwoman on August 4.
Dame Lowell, who has denied allegations of misconduct during her period in office, also cost the inquiry £41,750 in travel, including for flights home with her family. Her successor, Alexis Jay, received £148,000 in salary, allowances and expenses from August until March.
The expenditure will anger abuse victims who campaigned for it to be established but are increasingly dismayed by the perceived lack of progress. Two survivors’ groups have withdrawn, saying they have lost confidence in its ability to discover the truth or make recommendations.
Only one set of substantive hearings has taken place, into the suffering of children sent to schools in Australia under state-approved migration programmes. That section of the inquiry is scheduled to resume public hearings next month.
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