The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Closed petition PE1905: Public Inquiry into the response of religious organisations to allegations of child sexual abuse since 1950
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to order a public inquiry into the actions taken by religious organisations in response to child sexual abuse allegations since 1950.
Previous action taken
I contacted my MSP about this matter who I believe also spoke to the relevant Government Minister.
Background information
I am a survivor of child sexual abuse. Like many others, when I reported that I was abused, I was failed by people within my church.
I supplied my evidence to the inquiry for England and Wales however, they could not use it as that inquiry didn’t pertain to Scotland. Although there is a Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, it is focussed on investigating the abuse of children in care.
There needs to be an investigation into the response of religious organisations, who were informed about allegations of abuse against children who were not in care. I would like the inquiry to investigate how many victims and how many alleged abusers there were, and what these organisations did to protect the victims.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales has just released its report. Scotland now needs its own inquiry.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
380 signatures