Baby ashes scandal: Glasgow City Council apologises over infants’ remains

A city council has apologised after concluding there are “undoubtedly” cases in which it dispersed the remains of cremated infants against the wishes of their parents.

Glasgow City Council, which has been implicated in the baby ashes scandal, said sorry as it published the findings of an audit of practices at its crematoriums over the last 15 years.

It found more than 2,000 infant cremations were carried out in its two council-run crematoriums over that period. In one case, staff dispersed a child’s remains despite having been told to return them to the parents.

In 31 cases, or 1.3%, there was no clear instruction given to officials, or they have been unable to locate the paper records.

The report was carried out in the wake of the Mortonhall Crematorium scandal in Edinburgh, where it emerged babies’ ashes were secretly buried for decades.