HC Deb 15 February 1978 vol 944 cc432-3
31. Mr. Canavan

asked the Lord Advocate whether he will arrange to meet the Scottish Law Commission to discuss the law on warrant sales.

The Lord Advocate (Mr. Ronald King Murray)

I have no immediate plans to meet the Scottish Law Commission to discuss the law on warrant sales.

Mr. Canavan

Will my right hon. and learned Friend tell the Scottish Law Commission that it is about time we had a report from its committee, which was set up in 1969 to investigate warrant sales? Could this undue delay have anything to do with recent reports that membership of the committee includes such people as Alexander MacPherson, who was recently appointed to succeed my old friend Sheriff Thomson and whose family runs a firm of sheriffs' officers and, therefore, has a vested interest in continuing this barbaric practice of warrant sales?

The Lord Advocate

The short answer is "No, Sir". The work of the Scottish Law Commission on this matter has been carried on very effectively. I should point out, as I mentioned in answer to earlier parliamentary questions, that an inquiry that is by way of a research project into the sociological and factual background is necessary if we are to reform the law on diligence effectively. That inquiry has been under way since November 1977. Considerable material has been obtained and is being processed. Therefore, I think that my hon. Friend is wrong in suggesting that progress is not being made in this area. I remind my hon. Friend that this is not an easy area, because the merits are not all on one side. He should remember that, for example, wage earners in a firm which goes bankrupt may have to resort to diligence to get their wages paid.

Mrs. Winifred Ewing

Is it not an area in which, however we look at it, we must accept that it is barbaric not to leave a family with a reserve of fundamental items, such as bedding? Could there not be an approach which reserved to a family some amount of money and certain fundamental items?

The Lord Advocate

I remind the House that to suggest that legislation is barbaric is to bring the problem back to the House, because the procedure is based on legislation passed by the House. The procedure is laid down by statute. I disagree with what the hon. Lady suggested. Indeed, she perhaps needs to be reminded tht my right hon. Friend the Minister of State was responsible for introducing a Private Member's Bill which covered the precise point that she made.