Barnardo's, Quarriers and Aberlour face historic claims of abuse made by hundreds of alleged victims

Three Scottish charities are being investigated amid claims of historic child abuse.

Police are probing allegations made against people who have links to Barnardo’s, Quarriers and Aberlour Child Care Trust.

The organisations are the focus of the latest phase of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

During opening statements to the inquiry, the three charities apologised to anyone who had been a victim of abuse.

The alleged incidents date back to the 1930s and police have carried out investigations into complaints made by 366 former residents of care facilities.

A spokeswoman for Aberlour said: "We are co-operating with the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry."

A Barnardo's Scotland spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was set up to investigate historical abuse in all residential child care establishments in Scotland, run by a number of organisations across the country.

"Barnardo's is one of the organisations supporting the inquiry. Barnardo's is aware of one ongoing investigation.

"As with all inquiries we are assisting the police in an open and transparent way.

"We take every allegation of abuse very seriously, and have robust procedures in place when dealing with cases of historical abuse, which includes liaising fully with the police and offering support to former service users."

A Quarriers spokesman said: "First and foremost we at Quarriers reiterate our full and unequivocal apology to anyone who suffered abuse whilst in our care.

"We would urge anyone who has been abused to report this to Police Scotland and to contact the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry."