HC Deb 26 March 1975 vol 889 cc478-9
36. Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

asked the Lord Advocate whether he will make a statement on the progress of the Scottish Law Commission.

The Lord Advocate

The commission's progress in the various fields with which it is currently concerned is narrated in its Ninth Annual Report, published last month. Since completion of that report a further two consultative memoranda have been published, dealing respectively with liability of a paramour, and powers of judicial factors. Also, two reports prepared jointly with the Law Commission have been presented, namely, "Statute Law Revision Sixth Report" and "Supply Powers".

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Will the Lord Advocate do everything in his power to ensure that the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission are implemented? Will he try to ensure that parliamentary time is made available for this purpose?

The Lord Advocate

The hon. Gentleman must appreciate that government is a matter of priorities. I assure him that it would be impossible to implement every one of the Scottish Law Commission's recommendations as soon as a report was published. However, it is one of the Government's objectives to achieve a continuous pace of law reform in Scotland. We shall endeavour to abide by that objective.

Mr. Fairbairn

Will the Lord Advocate use his legendary charm on his sensitive colleague the Leader of the House to provide parliamentary time to legislate the important reforms which the distinguished work of the Scottish Law Commission has proposed—or will he bring them to his office, declare them redundant and stop wasting public money?

The Lord Advocate

My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland has already answered that point sufficiently.