The Care Inspectorate report into Edinburgh’s troubled residential care system for young people has only scratched the surface of deep-rooted problems, writes Herald columnist and former Edinburgh councillor John McLellan

It’s impossible for large institutions to prevent difficult situations, and in an organisation like Edinburgh Council with about 16,000 full-time equivalent jobs, it’s not so much the avoidance of problems which matters but how they are handled when they arise.

But when it comes to the well-being of vulnerable people, especially children, there can be no room for error because the implications for the individuals can be catastrophic and life-long. The investigations which followed the death of senior Edinburgh Council social worker Sean Bell in 2020 lifted the lid on how an abuser like Bell was able to prey on young people, but it was all put down to a small “boys club” turning a blind eye. The “club” no longer existed, so the job was to prevent a repeat. Or so we were told.

A further 2022 investigation into abuses in secure children’s homes exposed how inadequate the Bell inquiries had been, but again the claim was that as the homes were now closed, and the abuses and abusers had been identified and dealt with, that all was well and under control.

As was strongly suspected at the time, it now appears that all was far from well in Edinburgh’s residential care system, and those who have kept a close watch on what is happening firmly believe the subsequent response has not just been poor but woefully inadequate and harmful, with the priority of defending........

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