Hansard

Thank you. Good morning. I am Chris Daly, and my colleague Paul Anderson is with me this morning. We are service users of In Care Survivors Service Scotland, and I thank the committee for inviting us to present our petition about the group. For some time now, we survivors or care experienced in Scotland have been engaged in a process of interaction with the Scottish Government, the centre for excellence for looked after children in Scotland, the Scottish Human Rights Commission and service providers, and we key stakeholders have worked together to come to a consensus on remedies for in-care abuse. It has been challenging, but we have made progress through thematic discussions and local engagement events throughout Scotland. At those events, we have worked cohesively on the issues, including the public inquiry, the support fund and the time bar and other legal aspects. Working together, we have managed to address the issues and come to a consensus on most of the issues or remedies. The SHRC’s 2010 framework on remedies for in-care historic abuse has underpinned the themes and the interaction process. The Scottish Government has made a number of commitments with regard to the public inquiry, the time bar and the support fund, although I regret to say that the issue of compensation has not been addressed. We are raising these matters today by asking the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to support the continuation of In Care Survivors Service Scotland in the context of the new service model. We are concerned about the uncertainty over the continuation of ICSSS services and the distress that that is causing us survivors. I will outline briefly the challenges that we are being presented with in continuing the positive journey towards ameliorating some of the hardships that people face in their day-to-day lives following their experience in care. The current ICSSS model, which has been running for seven years now, is a person-centred integrative approach with therapeutically trained staff; it has provided vital services to survivors of in-care abuse and is highly valued by those who use them. ICSSS provides an intensive person-centred service, and it takes the service to survivors. The new broker model has some very positive aspects that survivors welcome. The commitment of £13.5 million over five years is significant, and among the range of issues that are to be addressed, which include education, employment, accommodation and physical as well as mental health, are areas to which survivors have been drawing attention for some years now. We consider that the new broker model has the scope to embrace the work of ICSSS as a specialist contribution to the needs of survivors, which would allow the continuation of the valued ICSSS services. With that approach, we feel that there is less potential for harm to be caused by services being disrupted. Another issue of contention that concerns us is the transitioning of service users and ownership of client files or case notes. ICSSS has been ordered to hand over all client records to allow the new broker service to risk assess individual clients. Our understanding is that the client has legal ownership of files, but that needs to be clarified, given the concerns raised with the petitioners by survivors who are service users of ICSSS that confidential and highly sensitive case files are to be passed around. We who are care experienced have had some difficulty with care and treatment under the national health service model. Labels of borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder have been unhelpful; we understand that clinicians are currently working on specific diagnostic labelling for historical abuse survivors, which we hope will help with future care and treatment. As petitioners, we note that a person working in the field of trauma has suggested that “if we say it’s fear and sadness” that are legacies, that would be a better explanation of a natural human reaction to being traumatised. I look back at the brilliant interaction process with CELCIS and the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and I have to say that we were not consulted by the Scottish Government or during the interaction on the decision that ICSSS would lose its funding in March. We had understood that the service would continue, enhancing the new service and vice versa, and we believe that the essential, dedicated service and the team of development workers could be a key component of the survivor support fund service or the new broker model. ICSSS and its team are an essential element in survivors leading full, healthy and independent lives. The Scottish Government talks about an enhanced and expanded service; the relationship with ICSSS and the new broker model could be a symbiotic one, with the new broker model being enhanced. The issue is also one of survivor choice, with survivors being enabled to strive and thrive. Essentially, it is all about getting the best possible outcomes for survivors. Over the seven years of ICSSS, survivors have grown to trust it. For some, it has provided the only continuity of support but, most important, it saves lives. Safety and security lie at the heart of what ICSSS provides in times of crisis, and continuing the counselling and emotional support that it provides would be the best way of managing transitions and enhancing the package on offer to survivors. Before I hand over to Paul Anderson, I just to want to cover—