HC Deb 06 July 1977 vol 934 cc1244-5
30. Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Lord Advocate, pursuant to his answer of 25th May, what alternatives to prosecution he is considering to ease the pressure on courts.

The Lord Advocate

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State fo rScotland said in a Written Answer to a parliamentary Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Pollok (Mr. White) yesterday, he and I have decided to set up a committee of inquiry with the following terms of reference: To consider the effect on the criminal courts and the prosecution system of the volume of minor offences at present dealt with by summary prosecution and whether some other process might be devised to deal with such offences while maintaining essential safeguards for accused persons. The chairman of the committee will be Lord Stewart and the other membership will be announced later.

Mr. Taylor

Can the Lord Advocate give us any idea whatsoever of what alternatives he is thinking of, other than prosecution? I appreciate that a committee has been set up, but have the Government any idea whatsoever of what they have in mind? Does the Lord Advocate agree that pressure on the courts is very serious and that in the Glasgow area it is becoming intolerable? Does he further agree that the best way of reducing pressure on the courts would be to have stronger and not weaker deterrents, and to have a fully manned police force?

The Lord Advocate

I know that the hon. Gentleman takes a very sincere interest in this matter, but he is perhaps asking me and my right hon. Friend to pre-empt the deliberations of the committee. It is obvious that this committee has been set up with these terms of reference to consider what would be the best method of dealing with this problem. Perhaps I may say, as an example—but merely as an example, because I do not want to pre-empt the deliberations of the committee in any way—that this could be regarded, in one of its aspects, as looking to see what relatively trivial offences can be de-criminalised.

Mr. Rifkind

Will the Lord Advocate ensure that the committee considers the possibility of on-the-spot payment of fines for parking offences in circumstances in which the offenders do not contest their liability for the fines?

The Lord Advocate

Again, that is obviously one of the matters on which the committee would want to deliberate. There are points to be made on both sides of such a recommendation.