27/02/2017 Victoria Derbyshire

moving across the south and by then milder conditions into the south,

but still pretty cool in the north. It's Monday. I'm Victoria

Derbyshire. The independent inquiry into child

sex ulg abuse finally holds its first public hearings.

I thought the idea of being flogged in the middle of the night by a

sadistic drunken cottage mother with an ironing cord was the norm. This

this inquiry is capable of opening some of that truth then that's a

good thing. And that inquiry begins

at 1030 and we'll bring An Oscars moment to rank among

the most infamous in history. La La Land was mistakenly

named as best picture. But minutes later the honour

was given to Moonlight. Thousands of patients are feared

to have been harmed after the NHS mislaid more than half a million

pieces of confidential medical correspondence,

including cancer test results Here's Joanna in the BBC Newsroom

with a summary of today's news. The independent inquiry into child

sexual abuse in England public hearings today,

more than two and a half years after it was set

up by the government. It will begin by examining

the mistreatment of British children in care or from poor families

who were sent to Australia in the The inquiry will be told

that the scale of abuse they suffered was much wider

than previously thought. Organisers of this year's Oscars say

they're still trying to work out how the ceremony ended in chaos,

after the wrong film The Hollywood musical

La La Land was mistakenly revealed as the winner,

but during the acceptance speeches it was discovered the award should

have gone to Moonlight, which is a drama about a gay black

youth coming to terms The firm that counts the votes,

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, has apologised, saying

there was a mix-up with The NHS has mislaid more than half

a million items of patients' confidential medical correspondence,

including treatment plans The documents, sent between GPs

and hospitals over a period of five years, did not

reach their recipients because they were mistakenly stored

in a warehouse by private company The government is facing calls

from Conservative MPs to scrap plans to limit access

to a key disability benefit. It's thought changes to the rules

on who qualifies for the personal independence payment

could affect around 160,000 people. It comes as a key aide

to Theresa May said were needed to roll back the bizarre

decisions of tribunals. The mobile phone company

Nokia is bringing back one of its most famous

models, the 3310. The company has struggled to compete

in the smartphone era, but it hopes there'll be a demand

for a simple phone with a battery The handset was first

launched in 2000, That's a summary of

the latest BBC News. Thank you. And thank you to you for

your messages on the state of your children's schools. We were talking

about this at the start of the programme. Some schools with

tightened budgets and others getting more money because of changes in the

way the government is funding schools in England. Karen says there

are more children in schools which now house children to 18 years of

age, so I think the increase is not proportionate to the increasing

provision. Matt says how about funding all schoolkids fairly

instead of giving some far more than the education budget? And Jonathan

says the UK education system is a shambles and a mess and it is only

our children who will suffer. I am going to home due to my kids once

they have finished primary school. Reyes says I know a lot of school

funding is wasted. Schools need to be much more careful in the way they

set their budgets. I believe schools could still operate efficiently and

effectively on less money and pupils could still reach their full

potential of the budget is not wasted. Thank you for those and keep

getting in touch. You are very welcome, as you know. Text messages

are charged at the standard network rate. Jessica is back now with the

sport. Starting with football. Manchester United have

won their first piece silverware of the season,

clinching the EFL Cup after a 3-2 The Saints were the better side

for long periods of the game, and in fact they had a goal

disallowed early on. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

put United 1-0 up. Just after the break,

Southampton levelled the game at 2-2 Who else but Ibrahimovic

to score the winner It's caused manager Jose Mourniho

to call for help from the club's fans, to ensure Ibrahimovic stays

another season at the club. I don't beg for players but if

needed I think maybe United fans can go to the door of his house and stay

there, and stay there all night if needed. I think they will go Fish

oil. It is a big disappointment of course. Today, it was a quality

game. A third hat trick in 9 games

for Tottenham striker Harry Kane helped his side to a 4-0 win over

Stoke, and move them up to second Kane completed his treble in just 23

minutes in the first half, as Spurs made it 8 wins in a row

at White Hart Lane. It's led manager Pochettino

to describe the striker England's rugby union

head coach Eddie Jones, never shy of speaking his mind,

has criticised Italy's tactics against his side

in their Six Nations match. Jones says Italy's

decision not to compete England were left bamboozled

by Italy's approach, as they slumped to 10-5 down

at half time. But five second-half tries ensured

England were not left horribly 17 wins on the bounce for England,

but Jones was not impressed. Well, it wasn't rugby. Let's face

the facts. You've got to have an offside line to play the game. Italy

was smart and congratulations to their coaching staff and the

players, they executed that and played brilliantly but it wasn't

rugby. If I was a BBC will be asking the RFU for their money back because

you haven't had a rugby game. We will have to go outside and train

now so you get some proper rugby. European Championship

silver medallist and 2012 Olympian Roberto Pavoni has

retired from swimming. He came second in the 400m

individual medley in the 2014 European Championships in Berlin,

also taking bronze in Pavoni will now take up a career

in coaching in the sport. That is all the sport for now and I

will be back with the headlines at 10:30am. Thank you. Welcome to the

programme. The independent inquiry into child

sexual abuse in England and Wales is finally

about to begin its first public hearings today -

in about 20 minutes in fact - two and a half years

after it was set up. It is expected to take five years

to complete and is a really far-reaching inquiry looking

into historic child abuse in institutions

like the Catholic Church It begins today with

an investigation of the appalling treatment of thousands of British

children who were sent to Australia Many were orphans with hopes

of a new life. The BBC has been told the inquiry

will hear new evidence about the scale of what

went on and the claim A key witness in the inquiry will be

David Hill, the former head He was sent from Britain

to Australia as a child to one of the schools run

by the Fairbridge Society, Our correspondent Tom Symonds

met him and took him back to the shipping port of Tilbury,

where 58 years ago, We arrived here

on a bleak April day. And we had never seen

anything like it. We had been sold the idea

that we were going to the land of milk and honey, that we came

from a very poor family, as most of the child migrants did,

and up to that point they bought us new wardrobes of clothes,

and we were in the state cabin with five-course lunches

and six-course dinners. We thought, well, we've signed up

for the right scheme. And it wasn't until we reached

Sydney that the thud Our lovely wardrobes

that we were given here in England were taken from us,

and we were issued with hard The kids were all running around

midwinter barefoot on the farm. They looked terrible,

because the kids cut Those kids would have gone through

life with nobody ever putting giving them comfort, and nurturing,

and support, and encouragement. They were the most vulnerable,

they were the least protected, And lucky of all, most

of all, because my mum Those kids never saw

their mums again. They thought the idea

of being flogged in the middle of the night by a sadistic drunken

cottage mother with an ironing What is your estimate of the number

of children affected by some I put the figure at over 60%

of the kids that went to Fairbridge 60%, and I think if you look

at the conditions that prevailed in the other child migrant

institutions I'd be staggered if the figure isn't equally high,

or even higher, in some of the Catholic boys homes

in Western Australia. People will say these

were different times, we didn't know what we know now

about child development, things were not managed

well, is that an excuse? If you go back to the 1950s,

the British government sent And they report back

and the British government, using standards that prevailed

in the 1950s, drew up what they called a blacklist and put

Fairbridge farm and other child migrant institutions

on the blacklist, defined them The British government not only

continued to approve children to be sent,

but financially I'm surprised how vulnerable

it has made me feel. And to happen to the

extent that it did. This is an enquiry that has been

quite bitterly condemned for failing to do anything in the view of some

people for two and a half years. This is the first time it will have

public hearings about the subject From my point of view,

only good can come of it. It seems to me that the greater

the evil, the stronger the conspiracy to keep it a secret

and keep it covered up, so if this enquiry is capable

of opening some of that truth, It is almost unbelievable, isn't it?

We can speak now to Clifford Walsh, who experienced sexual abuse when he

was sent from London to live at a Catholic institution in Australia.

Margaret Humphreys is also with us, the director of the child migrants

trust. She has dedicated her life to reuniting lost migrant children with

their families. I know you are about to go into the inquiry, Margaret, so

I will talk to you first, if I may? And Clifford I will be with you in a

moment. Tell us what work you have done to try to bring these former

children back with their families. I would like to state straightaway

that these children were not orphans. They had mothers, fathers,

brothers and sisters. Over the years that has been part of

the myth. They are not orphans. I would like to make that really clear

to your viewers. We have spent 30 years bringing child migrants home

to meet their mothers, their fathers, their families and

communities. In the early days, 25 or 30 years ago, we used to bring

one person home at a time. These were former child migrants, some of

whom left here when they were four or five years of age. Over the next

few weeks we are going to hear the most horrific stories of their times

in these residential institutions overseas. Even with orphans, it

seems hard to justify this policy back then. But you are saying they

were not orphans. So what on earth was the rationale? I think hopefully

the inquiry is going to explore this with people and look at the policy,

look at what happened to families, to children, and particularly the

emphasis on this really important inquiry. It has taken as 30 years to

get this inquiry. Some of those questions have got to be answered. I

know you have got to go that anything I can ask one more

question, if I may. -- but I think I can ask you one more question. Can

you give us examples of the cruelty some of these children were

subjected to? Perhaps I can answer it best this way. This week we are

going to hear from the child migrants. For the first time in the

history of child migration. And we have got a long history of treating

our children like this. We are going to hear their voices for the first

time. And I would just say let's pause and listen to them. Just for a

moment. We will get an idea of what happened to them, what happened to

their families. It is going to be hard. It is going to be very hard

for us to hear it, but we must listen and we must hear it and we

must learn the lessons. Clifford Walsh, thank you for

joining us from Australia. You're welcome. You were told, I think,

Clifford, that your parents were dead, but that wasn't true? No, not

at all. I had a mother. My father, of course, died in the war. And I

went through life thinking that I had no parents and it wasn't until

Margaret Humphreys came on the scene that I found out I still had a

mother and I finally met her when I was 50. Wow, you were nine then,

when you stepped off the ship from London. That's right. What did you

think was going on? Well, I was basically looking forward to it

because they made all these wonderful promises of how great

things were in Australia. I was a bit naive because someone in England

said that in Australia there was 100 sheep for every person so when we

got to the wall at Freemantle, I sort of half hoped I'd see 100 sheep

waiting for me, but that didn't materialise. I didn't realise they

only outnumbered us 100-1. We were sent to two days quarantine. Until

this point, I had every faith in adults, but it quickly diminished

after that. After I was flogged on the second day I was there because

myself and another boy couldn't carry a crowbar three miles in the

desired time. It was just too heavy for us. And we were beaten within an

inch you are our lives and then he sat us on his knee and said I don't

like to hit boys because it hurts me, you know. What a load of rubbish

that was because I was sure he enjoyed it. I never saw a man beat

children more than he did. This was the Catholic institution... Yes, he

was a clishian Brother. And you were also sexually abused at that place

as well? At least 30 times. Wow. Five by one person and at least 25

by a person who was in charge of me for a few months. It wasn't until he

tried to rape me or half succeeded in raping me and I was screaming and

so forth and he put his old fella in my mouth and evak lated and left

gurgling and spluttering for 25 minutes that he let me out and I

went and I saw the priest in charge, I won't mention his name, and I told

him and he then reported it to the principal. The principal called me

to his office and he spoke so harshly to me, I thought I was this

trouble and I didn't dare say anything about this brother. So I

said the priest must have misunderstood what I said and that

was the end of that. I was let go mercifully because I thought I was

in for another sound thrashing and because I opened my mouth I was

shipped off. Can I ask you Clifford, I mean such horrors perpetrated

against you as a boy. What impact does that have on you as you're

growing up into adult life? Well, for the first 11 years, I joined the

Navy and I was very much a loner. I wouldn't trust anybody. And even,

even when I got married, I didn't like anybody to touch me, no one to

put their arms around me, no one. Male for female and that goes, that

still continues today. I don't want anybody to touch me. I don't know

how I imagined to have children because I didn't even like my wife

to sit next to me and I love her dearly. It's a scandal that this

independent inquiry into child sex abuse is going to explore and

investigate. Do you think that 60 years on, it can get to the heart of

why this decision was made to send thousands of British children

abroad? Well, it's got to come out because we must see that this can

never happen because in the 80s they sent convicts out to Australia, but

we didn't steal anything. We didn't commit any crime. Yet we were dumped

in a hell that I honestly think was worse on the convicts had.

Clifford, thank you very much for talking to us. We appreciate your

time and your openness, thank you. You're welcome. Thank you very much,

Clifford Walsh. And we will bring you the start

of the abuse inquiry at 10.30am. All these British children were

isn't abroad for a better life is because some of the former child

migrants are nearing the end of their life which is why they're

starting the child sex abuse inquiry with this area. We'll bring you the

proceedings live just after 10.30am. We'll go back to LA and talk about

the mess-up and look at other notorious mix-ups.

Is it an insult to disabled people to suggest that those who are,

quote, taking pills at home who suffer from anxiety are not,

The words were uttered by the head of Theresa May's policy board

At issue is who in future should such receive benefits.

Benefits tribunals have ruled that ministers should extend the scope

of the new personal independence payments to another 160,000 people

They are facing a backlash and it is not the first time this Government

got into difficulties and suffered grief over curbs to disability

benefits. You think about the last Budget of George Osborne when he

tried to push through cuts to personal independence payments and

Iain Duncan Smith resigned from the Cabinet. It was almost the start of

the unravelling of the Cameron-Osborne Government. Well,

now there is another head of steam building up following this court

ruling which in effect means many, many more people will be able to

claim personal independence payments becausically, extending it to people

who have mental health issues, people who suffer from dementia or

who suffered a stroke or are suffering from schizophrenia and the

Government have reacted basically by saying we cannot afford this. It's

going to cost nearly ?4 billion by 2022 and they sthuk out an

announcement saying they were reversing this court ruling. On

Thursday, on Friday, on the day of the by-election results when all of

us were looking elsewhere, we weren't focussed on this. That has

added to the grief and let me read this. This is from the oldest

Conservative think-tank the Bow Group, they said, "This is the

behaviour that gives the Conservative Party a bad name,

attacking the most in need and kicking people when they're down."

This morning Heidi Allen had this message for the disabilities

minister. If I was in her shoes I would, I think, take the financial

hit, say OK, we need to accept this. Now, let's really look at this

policy which is something that needs it happen anyway and just review the

whole thing from top to bottom and I think in the end if we did that,

we'd work hand-in-hand with charities and people who were

disabled because they would know we're trying to build a system that

works. What added fuel to the fire is the comments by George Freeman

who is Mrs May's head of her policy unit. So he is, if you like, her big

brains. And over the weekend, he said that the court rulings were

bizarre, these were just tweaks to the system, but the most incendiary

remarks was when he suggested these people who would get PIPs were not

really disabled, they were just people taking pills to help them

cope with anxiety. Listen to what he said. Look, the truth on the

disability budget is we spend ?50 billion a year on disability

benefits and what we're trying to make sure is we get them to the

right people who are most in need. He didn't mention these tweaks are

actually to do with rolling back some bizarre decisions through the

tribunals which means that benefits are given to people who take pills

at home. We want to make sure we get the money to the really disabled

people who need it. He put out a tweet. He says, "Having suffered

myself as a child from childhood anxiety and depression, I don't need

any lectures on the damage anxiety does." Well, what gives this more

resonance, Theresa May made mental health one of her cornerstone

issues, remember that speech saying she wanted to end the stigma

attached to mental health. Here is a reminder of what she said. This is a

historic opportunity to right a wrong and give people deserving of

compassion and support the attention and treatment they deserve. And for

all of us to change the way we view mental illness so striving to

improve mental well-being is seen as just as natural, positive and good

as striving to improve our physical well-being.

Not that long ago. We've got the Budget on the horizon. Any chance of

it, things being changed before then? Well, it's possible because

let's be honest, it has happened before. You think of George Osborne

backing down over personal independence payments and tax

credits so it has happened before. They won't want to back doub, but I

think they're in a real jam here because the disability charities are

up in arms because they say look, if you suffer from say dementia, you

can have as profound problems out and about as if you are blind. So

why shouldn't they get this benefit? More than that, the disability

tribunals, they went through the cases in real detail and you know,

we clearly know increasingly the difficulties people have with mental

health issues. So they're under pressure, not just politically, but

from the mental health charities and the last thing to say is the

Government, before they announced they were going to try and rewrite

the rules without anyone noticing, they didn't consult anyone, they

didn't consult Parliament or the disclaket charities and they tried

to sneak it out, for that and for Mr Freeman's comments, there is a real

backlash building up. Thank you, Norman.

If you are somebody who takes pills at home for anxiety, get in touch

with me. We'd like to get in touch with you.

The NHS has mislaid more than half a million items of patients'

confidential medical correspondence, including treatment plans

The documents, sent between GPs and hospitals over a period

of five years, did not reach their recipients

because they were mistakenly stored in a warehouse by private company

So, where are they? Well, Victoria, NHS England say they have tracked

down all these letters now. This was over a period of five years from

2011 to 2016. They were 500,000 items of correspondence, spent from

hospitals to GPs, telling the GP about where the patient's treatment

had got to and what needed to be followed up. They were items which

couldn't get to the GP surgery because they were sent back because

the patient had moved, in most cases, so this firm were brought in

to sort of redirect them to get to the proper Distin nation where the

patient was. The trouble is they ended up in a warehouse and that's

the nub of the problem. NHS England say they have managed to get hold of

them all and follow them all up and the 500,000 has boiled down to 2500

patients whose treatment might have been affected because the GP didn't

know the full story and quite a few of the 500,000 were fairly routine

bits of correspondence, but it does raise a lot of questions about

whether the 200 or more have been seriously affected. Right. And when

will we know the answer to that? Who is trying to find out how seriously

afeted or otherwise? NHS England say there is no evidence that anyone has

been affected of those 2500, but they are still pursuing it. Labour

are saying we got wind of this last summer, at the very end of the

Parliamentary session, the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, put out a

brief statement saying there was a problem with redirecting the

correspondence, but we weren't told the 500,000. Labour want to know why

has it taken so long for this emerge and what was the full story? Why

were they in a warehouse and what was going on and Labour are pushing

for answers in the House of Commons so we may yet learn more about this

as the day goes on. Thank you very much, Hugh Pym is our health editor.

We will cross live shortly to the beginning of the public hearings

into the inquiry into child sex abuse.

Glyn says, "I have to say I'm fed-up as a disabled person being picked on

by the Government. They simply have no idea what they're doing to us. I

can't help being disabled and I didn't ask to be like this, but to

be targeted by the Government is appalling. It makes me worry about

any cuts which has an impact on me and makes my condition worse."

Theindependent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales

is holding its first public hearings today, more than two and a half

It'll begin by examining the appalling mistreatment

of British children many whom were orphans or from poor

families, who were sent to Australia in the years

The inquiry will be told that the scale of abuse

they suffered was much wider than previously thought.

Organisers of this year's Oscars say they're still trying to work out how

the ceremony ended in chaos, after the wrong film

The Hollywood musical La La Land was mistakenly

revealed as the winner, but during the acceptance speeches

it was discovered the award should have gone to Moonlight,

which is a drama about a gay black youth coming to terms

The firm that counts the votes, PriceWaterhouseCoopers,

has apologised, saying there was a mix-up with

The NHS has mislaid more than half a million items of patients'

confidential medical correspondence, including treatment plans

The government is facing calls from Conservative MPs to scrap

plans to limit access to a key disability benefit.

It's thought changes to the rules on who qualifies for

the personal independence payment could affect around 160,000 people.

It comes as a key aide to Theresa May said

were needed to roll back the bizarre decisions of tribunals.

That's a summary of the latest news, join me for BBC

Here's Jessica again now with the sports headlines.

Manchester United have picked up their first piece of silverware

of the season by beating Southampton to win the EFL Cup.

Manager Jose Mourinho has called on fans to camp outside

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's house to ensure he stays another season at the club

after the striker scored the winner in the 87th minute

A third hat trick in nine games for Tottenham striker Harry Kane

helped Spurs to a 4-0 win over Stoke that moves them up to second

And England head coach Eddie Jones has criticised Italy

for their tactics in yesterday's Six Nations match.

England came back from 10-5 down, to win 36-15 at Twickenham.

A chaotic night at the Oscars. This was the moment Faye Dunaway and

Warren Beatty made the wrong announcement when they were given

the wrong envelope. Moonlight, you guys

won best picture. I'm afraid they read the wrong

thing. This is not a joke. Moonlight has won best picture. Moonlight,

best picture. Let's go live to LA now and we can

talk to Sandro Monetti, a British The inquest is beginning. The mother

of all mix-ups. Rain has been accepted by PricewaterhouseCoopers,

who for 83 years have tabulated the results and prepared the envelopes.

-- blame has been accepted. Don't bet on getting another year, PwC!

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were handed the wrong envelope. There are

duplicates backstage and they had been handed the envelope for best

actress, which was Emma Stone, La La Land. Warren Beatty seems to realise

the mistake and Faye Dunaway looks over, sees La La Land, calls it out,

comment at the after party. Now been seen

there is a lot of finger-pointing. And whoever mixed up the envelopes,

I don't fancy their future employment chances! But it means he

will never ever forget who won best picture at this year's Oscars

ceremony. Some people can't even remember who won last year! And

Jordan Horrowitz, the producer of La La Land, who took charge of the

whole thing, maybe he should produce the Oscars next year because he

seems to know what he is doing! He rescued it and handed it to

Moonlight. I thought I had seen it all covering Hollywood but this was

a first. What a total fiasco. The Oscars are hugely enjoyable and now

they are covered in huge embarrassment. What a mess but what

a laugh! We will probably interrupted our conversation as we

go to a live event here in the UK. Why do you think Warren Beatty just

handed that envelope to Faye Dunaway instead of saying, hang on, this

isn't right? And conferring with the host, Jimmy Kimmel? He knew there

was an issue so why didn't he say something? They were celebrating the

50th anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde. They are still causing chaos

50 years later obviously. Who knows? That is the big question. What was

going on in Warren Beatty's mind? He is being destroyed on social media.

Faye Dunaway was the one who read it out, not him, but he explained that

he had that momentary pause... We have got to interrupted. Thank you

very much. We are pausing there to go live to the inquiry, the

Independent inquiry into child sex abuse, which is just about to begin.

This is the chair. Finishing next Friday, the 10th of March, 2017. The

case study into child migration programmes is a part of the

inquiry's wide investigation into institutional failures in connection

with the abuse of children outside of the United Kingdom. This is an

important day for the work of the inquiry and for the core

participants and witnesses taking part in this case study. Today marks

not only the first day of this hearing on child migration

programmes, but the opening of the first public hearing in which the

inquiry will hear live and read evidence from complainants and their

experiences of sexual abuse. As you all know, the task of the chair and

panel of the inquiry is to examine the extent to which public and

private institutions in England and Wales have failed to protect

children from sexual abuse in the past and for us to make meaningful

recommendations to keep children safe today and in the future. The

definition and scope of this case study was published on the inquiry

website in May 20 16. To fulfil our task, the inquiry will hold two

hearings in the child migration case study during 2017. This hearing,

known as the part one hearing, will provide an introduction to the

history of the child migration programmes and the institutions

involved and the nature of the allegations of sexual abuse that

have been made by former child migrants. The part two hearings will

commence on the 10th of July 2017 and will focus on whether

institutions based in England and Wales took sufficient care to

protect children in the migration programmes and the response of those

institutions to the alleged sexual abuse of child migrants. The

inquiry's broader programme of work was published in its December 2016

report. The two hearings in the child migration case study are part

of a full timetable of substantive hearings and seminars and a number

of investigations which will be held in 2017 and into 2018. As part of

this case study, as in all investigations, the inquiry

continues to receive and review very large volumes of evidence relating

to sexual abuse and institutional responses to it. And you will hear

more detail on the evidence shortly from counsel. To all the core

participants and their legal teams, we thank you for the hard work you

have done in preparing for this hearing. And for the ongoing work

involved in this case study. To the former child migrants who will give

evidence before the inquiry during these hearings, and to those who

have given written testimony, we are grateful for your courage in coming

forward to be a witness. We are conscious of the great challenges

that many of you have encountered as a result of your experiences as

children. I want to ensure you of the high priority the inquiry places

on case study and on hearing your experiences. We thank those of you

who have travelled long distances in order to testify before us. I would

now like to introduce the core participants and where appropriate

their representatives as follows. Counsel for the child migrants

trust. Counsel for the participant Oliver Cosgrove, Mr Imran Khan. Core

participant Mr David Hill. Counsel for Barnardos, Mr Stephen Ford QC.

Counsel for the sisters of Nazareth, Mr Bilal Croat. Counsel for the

Catholic counsel, Kate gathered QC. Counsel for the Secretary of State

for Health, Samantha Lewthwaite QC. Good morning to everybody and

welcome to this hearing. Before we hear from counsel, a couple of

points on practical arrangements. We will sit each day from 10:30am

except on the days we are hearing evidence by video link from the east

coast of Australia. Then we will start early at 8am. Those days are

day six, the 7th of March, and day seven, the 8th of March. Ordinarily,

we will take a 15 minute break at around 11:45am. On days when we are

sitting early, we may take an early break during the morning. We will

break for lunch at one o'clock, returning at 2 o'clock. We intend to

sit until around 4 o'clock each day. By way of an agenda, we rely on the

hearing timetable which sets out the order in which witnesses will be

called. The hearing transcript is recorded simultaneously on screens

throughout the room and will be published at the end of each date on

the inquiry website. Any directions arising from the day's hearing will

also be published on the website. As you will hear in more detail from

counsel, there are anonymity arrangements in place for witnesses.

Ciphering and reductions have also been used in relation to the

evidence in accordance with the inquiry's redaction protocol and

restriction order, both of which are available on the website. If there

is any inadvertent breach of a restriction order, I would ask that

the simultaneous recording be stopped momentarily so that the

issue can be addressed as appropriate. I now invite leading

counsel to the inquiry in relation to the case study on child migration

programmes Henrietta Hild QC to address the panel. Please go ahead.

Thank you, chair and members of the panel. I appear to date with junior

counsel of this case study, and Paul Davison are also working on this

case study but are not present at the case today. Chair, on opening

the proceedings of the half of the inquiry I would like to first of all

explain the scope and purpose of the case study, secondly provide an

overview of the child migration schemes, thirdly summarise the

evidence we anticipate he will hear during the case study, and finally

remind everybody of some logistical issues in respect of the witnesses.

Turning first to the scope and purpose of this case study. This

case study, as you have said, is part of the inquiry's protection of

children outside the UK investigation. That investigation

seeks to explore the extent to which institutions and organisations based

in England and Wales have taken seriously their responsibilities to

protect older outside of the United Kingdom from sexual abuse. The

inquiry has decided to divide that broad investigation into a number of

narrow case studies, of which this case study on the child migration

programmes is the first. In summary, you and the panel will hear that the

child migration programmes were large-scale schemes in which

thousands of children, many of them vulnerable, poor, abandoned,

illegitimate or in the care of the state, were systematically and

permanently migrated to remote parts of the British Empire by various

institutions in England and Wales and with the knowledge and approval

of the British government. Many allegations of sexual abuse have

been made by former child migrants. First whether Government

departments, public authorities, private and or charitable

institutions based in England and Wales, took sufficient care to

protect those children involved in child migration programmes. Second,

the extent to which those same bodies were aware or should have

been aware of allegations of evidence or evidence of sexual abuse

concerning those children. And whether appropriate steps were taken

in response. And third, the adequacy of support and repar rations that

have been offered to individuals who suffered sexual abuse relating to

their inclusion into child migration programmes. As you've indicated

chair, the inquiry has recognised seven core participants, the child

migrants trust, Oliver cos grove and David Hill, Barnardo's, and the

Secretary of State for Health. It is understood chair as you know that

the Secretary of State for Health will represent the interests of

other Government departments such as the Home Office, the Foreign and

Commonwealth Office, and the Department for Education. As you've

indicated chair the inquiry seeks to meet its terms of reference by

conducting two public hearings in this case study. A part one hearing

intended to provide an introduction to the child migration programmes

and what previous inquiries have established about the incidents of

sexual abuse of child migrants and to hear direct evidence from former

child migrants of their experiences. And a part two hearing which will

focus on the position of the institutions involved, in

particular, what steps they took to protect children, what they knew or

should have known of the sexual abuse of child migrants, the

adequacy of their responses and the issue of support and repar ration.

Today is the first day of that part one hearing. The part two hearing

about commence on 10th July 2017. Turning then to an overview of the

child migration programmes. Chair, the child migration case study

relates to a lengthy episode in child welfare in England and Wales.

Child migration programmes achieved a degree of public recognition in

2010 when the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, issued a formal

apology to former child migrants. But there remains little public

awareness of the full extept of these programmes, of how they were

conducted and their effects on the children subjected to them and

particularly of the allegations of sexual abuse related to them. It is

estimated that you will hear evidence that over 100,000 British

children were sent abroad as subjects of the child migration

programmes, mostly to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and what was

then southern Rhodesia, modern day Zimbabwe. We anticipate that you

will hear that most British child migrants, around 90,000 were sent to

Canada between 1869 and 1924. The focus of this case study is the

post-war period. But it is recognised that child migration

schemes that operated for a lengthy period before then. As to the period

after 1945, we anticipated that you will hear from the experts that over

3,000 children were sent to Australia, between 1947 and 1965,

with a few thereafter until the early 1970s. Around 559 were sent to

New Zealand. 329 were September to one institution in Canada, between

1935 and 1948 and 276 were sent to southern owe Decemberia between 1946

and 1956. Chair, you'll hear evidence as to the ration nationals,

you are likely to hear both British and colonial governments regarded

the programmes as carrying the perceived benefits of reducing the

cost to the State of maintaining destitute children. Many of the

organisations advanced a humanitarian rational, ie they were

rescuing children from poor and unsuitable environments and

providing them with new and better opportunities overseas. Child

migration assisted in populating the empire with white, Anglo-Saxon

settlers. It is argued that it met religious concerns about

safeguarding children's religious beliefs and it sought to ensure that

a particular religious denomination was well represented among the

imperial settlers. As to the funding for child migration, you'll hear

initially the sceles were funded by a combination of charitable

donations and funding from local unions. However, the empire

settlement Act of 1922 and those that followed provided that partial

public funding was available for any approved migration scheme, whether

it was run by the Government or by a voluntary organisation. Additional

funding was provided by national and regional governments overseas.

According to the available records, chair, children as young as two were

migrated under these programmes. We anticipate that you will hear

evidence that these children were put on board ships departing from

England and Wales, without being given any real understanding of

where they were going, what they were doing and why they were being

isn't. Many will say they were taken without the consent or the informed

consent of their parents or guardians. Many will say that they

were wrongly told that they were orphans. Separated from their

siblings, and deprived of basic details about their identities.

Making it much harder if not impossible to reunite themselves

with their families in the future. In the receiving countries, most

children were placed in institutions or in farm schools where they

provide I had labour and domestic services or with families. In those

institutions or schools, child migrants have given evidence that

they were frequently subjected to extremely harsh conditions. Hard

labour, and physical abuse by those responsible for their welfare. In

addition, there are allegation of widespread and systematic sexual

abuse taking place in those institutions. Or some of them. Some

former child migrants alleged they were subjected to sexual abuse prior

to their migration in homes in England and Wales. There is some

evidence that you will hear of child migrants being sexually abused

during the jurpb which from England and Wales. Others described sexual

abuse in work environments to which they were sent. And some have

described sexual abuse in holiday placements from the institutions.

You're likely to hear chair very emotional accounts of the decades of

pain their experiences have caused. In respect of the institutions

involved, the UK Government provided partial funding for child migration

schemes, approved the residential institutions to receive child

migrants and was responsible for consenting to the migration of

children sent from local authority care. Local authorities sent a

relatively small proportion of children in their care overseas and

had no regulatory role or oversight of the children sent by voluntary

organisations. Overseas organisations had varying

responsibilities for the guardianship, partial funding and

monitoring of child migrants. It was voluntary organisations including

religious bodies, who oversaw the selection and transportation of many

child migrants from their own residential holes or directly from

their families the they sometimes worked with organisations to arrange

migration. Voluntary organisations also often placed the children in

residential homes overseas, that were either part of the same

organisation, or an affiliate of it or were part of the same religious

denomination. Given the scope of the case study, chair, the inquiry will

not consider the role of overseas bodies in child migration in any

detail. Say to the extent the same is necessary to understand the

roles, responsibilities and response of those institutions based in

England and Wales. In terms of the voluntary organisations involved,

you will hear evidence from a selection of children, who were

migrated overseas by the Fairbridge Society, the Church of England

Children's Society, Cornwall County Council, the sisters of Nazareth,

Southwark Catholic rescue society, the royal overseas league, the

National Children's Home, Father Hudson Society. It has not been

possible to identify or call a witness who was migrated by every

institution involved in the scheme, but he will hear you will hear from

the experts. We anticipate chair that the experts will apine that

child migration schemes were never accepted practise of the day, but

attracted criticism of their working methods as well as support. That

there was increasing concern about the schemes from some parts of the

UK Government, in the light of the childcare standards set out in the

Curtis Report of 1946 and that these concerns formed part of the reasons

why child migration schemes ended. Turning now briefly to the role of

other inquiries and investigations. In 1998, the House of Commons Select

Committee on health investigated the issue of child migration. It found

that the sexual abuse of child migrants in some institutions in

Australia was widespread and systematic and to quote the language

of their report, exceptionally depraved. The responsibility of some

of the receiving institutions for the sexual abuse of children and the

adequacy of repar rations to former child migrants are being

investigated by the Australian Royal Commission. The Australian

commission has carried out three case study investigations into

institutions to which British child migrants were sent. It has found

that at Salvation Army homes in Queensland and New South Wales it

heard graphic and shocking accounts of how boys were treated. There was

sex sexual abuse by officers or from employees and from other boys

resident in the home from 1956 until the closure of the homes. The

Australian Royal Commission found at Christian brothers institutions in

Australia, children were isolated, inadequately educated and sexually

abused and with regards to St Joseph's orphanage, there was cruel

punishment of the children there. Some children had various barriers

to reporting sexual abuse and some who did complain were not believed

or were punished in. January, the Northern Ireland historical abuse

inquiry which investigated children sent from institutions in Northern

Ireland to Australia, in the years after World War II, found numerous

failures in respect of the Northern Irish Government and various

institutions that sent children to Australia. The Scottish child abuse

inquiry is also conducting an investigation into child migration.

The United Kingdom Government has acknowledged that children in child

migration programmes endured the harshest of the conditions, neglect

and abuse, but made no specific mention of sexual abuse. To date no

public inquiry into the United Kingdom has under taken analysis of

allegation of sexual abuse of child migrants and possible failings by

institutions based in England and Wales in relation to that abuse.

Previous reports and reviews on child migration only considered

sexual abuse in a limited way. The present case study therefore, chair,

for the first time considers whether the various England and Wales bodies

took sufficient care to protect children who were child migrants

from sexual abuse and whether after that abuse came to light there has

been adequate response. There is an added urgency to this case given the