THE exclusion of abuse survivors from a Scottish government compensation scheme is unjustified, a Holyrood committee concluded today.

More than 200 women, former residents at Fornethy House school in Kilry, Angus, have come forward to say they suffered humiliation, beatings and sexual assault during the 1960s and ’70s, when the institution was run by local authority the Glasgow Corporation.

But they are excluded from the Scottish government’s Redress Scotland scheme, which can offer up to £100,000 in compensation, because the records evidencing their stay have been destroyed or their stays were too short to qualify for a scheme aimed at people in long-term institutional care.

Examining the case, the cross-party citizen participation and public petitions committee said it reached an unanimous view that Fornethy survivors must be included and the qualification criteria changed.

Writing to Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, committee convener Jackson Carlaw urged ministers not to delay taking action to change the “unjustified barrier preventing those who experienced abuse in settings such as Fornethy House” from receiving compensation.

Ms Forbes responded: “Abuse of children at Fornethy House should never have happened and I am profoundly sorry for what the survivors endured as children and the impact this abuse has had on their lives.

“The independent report we commissioned to investigate this matter further is clear that children attended Fornethy House primarily on a short-term basis for convalescence or for a recuperative holiday under arrangements involving their parent or guardian and another person.

“Those circumstances, as agreed by the Scottish Parliament, are excluded from the redress scheme which is designed primarily to provide acknowledgement of the harm that has been caused for survivors of historical child abuse who were in long-term care.”