Details

The Macur Review was an independent review of the "Tribunal of Inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd in North Wales since 1974" (The Tribunal), established in 1996 and chaired by Sir Ronald Waterhouse. The Macur review examined the scope and conduct of the Tribunal.

The Macur Review was announced in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, a time when there was considerable disquiet about historical abuse and a re-emergence of earlier concerns that the Tribunal, a statutory inquiry that examined in the abuse of children between from 1974 onwards, had failed to identify perpetrators and/or that it had concealed key information. The Tribunal's Report, "Lost in Care", published in February 2000, did not include names of establishment figures as was widely called for. Concerns were that prominent public figures had been involved in the abuse of children in care in North Wales, but had not been subject to exposure due to their social status; there were allegations of a 'cover-up'.

The Process
The Review was predominantly a documentary based investigation. It also included interviews with individuals involved with the Tribunal, people who made written submissions, those involved in the police investitations and those who worked on the prosecution files of individuals accused of ill treatment, physical abuse, and/or sexual abuse of children in care in Gwynedd and Clwyd.

Governing Legislation
None. This was a "a non-statutory document-based Review and not an Inquiry held under the Inquiries Act 2005" (Macur 2016, p.16).

Inquiry Locations
United Kingdom; Wales; Gwynedd and Clwyd

Written Submissions
Written submissions were invited following the publication of an 'Issues Paper'.

Recommendations
The Macur review "found no reason to undermine the conclusions of the Tribunal in respect of the nature and the scale of abuse". It also stated that there was not evidence of the involvement of prominent individuals in the abuse of children in care in North Wales during the relevant period.

Cost
The cost is clearly stated on the website of the UK government.

The total expenditure authorised through, or on behalf of, the Macur Review Secretariat is £2,493,300. This figure excludes VAT and has been rounded up to the nearest hundred.

Further Action
Recommended no further action.

Related Inquiries
It does relate directly to an earlier inquiry: Sir Ronald Waterhouse's inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the former Gwynedd and Clwyd council areas of North Wales between 1974 and 1996: "Lost in care, report of the tribunal of inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd since 1974"