The inquiry into child abuse in Scotland will only investigate incidents which took place against those who were not in the legal care of their parents, John Swinney has said.

In a statement to MSPs on Thursday, the education secretary said he has made the remit of the inquiry clearer to make sure there was no confusion over what the panel could investigate.

The inquiry, chaired by Lady Smith, will hear evidence of abuse carried out against children who were in long-term legal care of institutions and bodies.

If abuse against those individuals was carried out outside the institution but while they were still under their care, the inquiry will investigate it.

Those who were abused at the same outside settings, such as a youth group, but were in the long-term care of their parents will not fall into the inquiry's remit.

Swinney told MSPs: "I have concluded there is a clear distinction between 'in care' settings and 'non-in care' settings.

"In care settings are those where institutions and bodies had legal responsibility for the long-term care of children in the place of the parent, with all of the legal and moral obligations that status carries.

"That is different to the position in non-in care settings, such as day schools and youth groups, where others had a duty of care on a short term basis but crucially were not in anyway replacing the role of parents.

"In too many cases, terrible crimes were committed in those settings, too.

"Criminal behaviour should be referred to the police and I hope the, where the evidence exists, this will be energetically pursued through the criminal courts".

Some survivors wanted the inquiry's remit to be widened to include all incidents of abuse, a point made in the chamber by Scottish Labour's education spokesman Iain Gray.

He said: "Many survivors have pursued a wider remit for the inquiry because they believe it unjust that most survivors of abuse will not be caught by the scope of the inquiry at all."

The education secretary judged a widened remit would mean the inquiry would "take many more years to conclude" meaning it would fail "to respond to those survivors of in care abuse".

Other survivors feared a widened remit would cause delays. The campaign group Former Boys and Girls Abused in Quarriers Homes welcomed Swinney's narrower remit.

A spokesman for the group said: "The change to the inquiry remit is a positive change and will bring clarity to this now. We were not supportive of widening the remit to such a degree whereby it had a major impact on the timescale.

"We were mindful of the issues that have occurred regarding the English child abuse inquiry. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry term of reference and remit are focused, targeted and achievable in a reasonable timescale including with this additional change."

The inquiry has suffered a series of set backs since it was launched in October, 2015.

Susan O'Brien, the original chairwoman, quit her post in July citing interference into her work by the Scottish Government. Swinney has consistently rejected the allegation.

A second panelist , Professor Michael Lamb, also resigned over alleged interference from St Andrew's House. Mr O'Brien said the the inquiry was "doomed".