The cost to taxpayers of Scotland’s long-running historical child abuse inquiry has risen to £111million, the Mail can reveal.
The disclosure comes amid a growing row over the cost of public inquiries which has hit £230million since 2007.
Latest figures show Police Scotland has spent more than £12million in relation to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), which is chaired by Lady Smith and began back in 2015.
The inquiry itself has cost £98.7million so far meaning the known bill to the public purse is now around £111million – but the true total is likely to be higher when as yet unpublished spending by other agencies such as the Crown Office are included.
Police Scotland’s finance department accounts shows that the force’s costs in relation to the SCAI, including legal representation, are £12.3million.
