Report by John Hale and Valerie Sinason on ritual abuse

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department of Health,

Further to my request https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

It appears that the Report was commissioned in 2006 and several drafts were submitted to the Department of Health.
Can you tell me what recorded information is available on report , what its title was, what correspondence is held about it about it and why the report was not published?

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Jones

Dear Department of Health,
My apologies, I got a date completely wrong,
The request should read-

Further to my request https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...
It appears that the Report was commissioned in 1994 and several drafts were submitted to the Department of Health.
Can you tell me what recorded information is available on report , what its title was, what correspondence is held about it about it and why the report was not published?

Following is a newspaper report about it

The Independent on Sunday

30 April 2000

SATANIC ABUSE NO MYTH, SAY EXPERTS

By Sophie Goodchild, Home Affairs Correspondent

A specially commissioned government report will this week conclude that satanic abuse does take place in Britain. It will say that its victims have suffered actual abuse and are not suffering from "false memory syndrome".

The report, ordered by the Department of Health, focuses on the experiences of 50 "survivors". Compiled by Dr John Hale [sic], director of the Portman Clinic in London, and psychotherapist Valerie Sinason, it will reopen the debate which started a decade ago with testimonies from children in Nottingham, Rochdale and Orkney.

Its findings contradict the claims of a report ordered by the Conservative government in 1994, which concluded that satanic abuse was a "myth". It follows the growing concern of child protection agencies, and the Government, over organised child abuse.

Last week, it emerged that police were investigating the alleged sexual and physical abuse of up to 4,000 children in care homes and council-run homes in Devon. Ms Sinason, who has treated 126 ritual abuse survivors, said yesterday that in many cases children were tortured by being held under water or made to believe they had witnessed the murder of infants as part of the satanic ritual.

"Some children are born for the purpose of abuse and are not registered on birth certificates," she added. "The abusers use trickery to convince children they have taken part in murder. This increases the power of the abuser."

The report will point to the difficulty of bringing prosecutions because of the problems of putting abused children into the witness box. There are currently at least five cases involving ritual abuse in the hands of lawyers. Lee Moore, a barrister who founded the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, and was himself [sic] a victim of ritual abuse, said it was hard to persuade people to give evidence, particularly after the 1994 report claiming satanic abuse was a myth perpetuated by social workers.

The latest report was welcomed by Dr Joan Coleman, a Surrey psychiatrist who has spent 14 years treating victims. "A lot of children are born into satanic families who indulge in this ritual abuse," she said. "It's only now that child sexual abuse is being exposed that people are beginning to believe ritual abuse exists."

The report will be studied by John Hutton, the health department minister with responsibility for child protection. He is expected to order an investigation into its findings.

© 2000 The Independent on Sunday

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Jones

Do Not Reply,

Thank you for contacting the Department of Health.

This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.

Where a reply is appropriate, we aim to send one within 18 working days,
or 20 working days if your query is a Freedom of Information request or
complaint.

If you have contacted the Department of Health about a current health or
social care campaign, please visit the [1]GOV.UK website, the UK
Government’s official information website, where a response may have been
published.

If your enquiry is about a medical matter, please contact NHS 111 or visit
[2]NHS Choices, or contact your GP surgery.

For general health information you may also find it helpful to refer to
[3]GOV.UK, which includes the Department of Health's [4]'What we
do' section.

Please note that the Department of Health does not process complaints
about the NHS or social services. If you wish to make a complaint about a
healthcare professional, an NHS organisation or a social care provider,
please visit the [5]'Complaints procedure' page on the GOV.UK website.

 
You can find out more about the Department’s commitments from our
[6]Personal Information Charter.

show quoted sections

Incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are routinely monitored for
compliance with the Department of Health's policy on the use of electronic
communications. For more information on the Department of Health's e-mail
policy click here http://www.dh.gov.uk/terms

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This email was scanned by the Symantec virus scanning service and was
certified virus free.
Communications may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for
legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/announceme...
2. http://www.nhs.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
6. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Do Not Reply,

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Jones

Please find attached the Department's response to your recent FOI request
(our ref: 1066903).

Yours sincerely

Dorothy Crowe

Freedom of Information

show quoted sections

Incoming and outgoing e-mail messages are routinely monitored for
compliance with the Department of Health's policy on the use of electronic
communications. For more information on the Department of Health's e-mail
policy click here http://www.dh.gov.uk/terms

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This email was scanned by the Symantec virus scanning service and was
certified virus free.
Communications may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for
legal purposes.

Dear Department of Health,

Thankyou very much for this helpful reply

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Jones