Prosecution Policy (Hansard, 30 March 1983)

§ 45. Mr. Maxton
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if he will meet the procurator fiscal for Kirkcaldy to discuss prosecution policy.

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
I have no immediate plans to meet the procurator fiscal at Kirkcaldy. My noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate and I do, however, from time to time visit the offices of procurators fiscal to discuss matters with them.

§ Mr. Maxton
When the Solicitor-General for Scotland does, perhaps some time in the future, get round to discussing prosecution policy with the procurator fiscal for Kirkcaldy, will he consider discussing with him the extension to Kirkcaldy of the tape recording of interviews of suspects? Will he also make a statement on why, after two years of experiments elsewhere, no report has come from his Department to explain to the House what is happening? Is that not a disgrace?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that interesting question. As he will appreciate, tape recording and the experiments that are conducted by the police on that are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. We are closely observing those cases and trials where tape recordings are used before the courts. Recently there was an interesting decision on tape recording in the High Court at Aberdeen.

§ Mr. Henderson
In his contacts with the procurator fiscal for Kirkcaldy, will my hon. and learned Friend take the opportunity to scotch the somewhat ill-informed rumours that have been going round that there might be some diminution of the activities of the sheriff court at Cupar?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
Yes, I am glad to do that. There is no truth in the rumour that there is an intention to close the sheriff court at Cupar. Much business is still being conducted there and it and the other sheriff courts in Fife are intact.

§ Mr. Christopher Price
When the Solicitor-General for Scotland meets the procurator fiscal for Kirkcaldy, will he ask him to take a cheap day return to London and explain to the civil servants in the Home Office, and the Home Secretary in particular, the virtues of an independent prosecution system and ask the Home Secretary to include in the Police and Criminal Evidence Bill that excellent system for England, as recommended by the English Royal Commission on criminal procedure?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
From my limited experience in the House I know that from time to time one receives accolades from unexpected quarters. I shall certainly tell the procurator fiscal of the hon. Gentleman's respect and high regard for the system of independent public prosecutors that we have in Scotland. However, I think that the hon. Gentleman is aware that public prosecutors in England are being considered by the Home Secretary.

§ 47. Mr. David Marshall
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if he has any plans to meet procurators fiscal to discuss prosecution policy and the administration of justice.

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
I have no specific plans to meet procurators fiscal to discuss prosecution policy and the administration of justice. These are, of course, matters that I would discuss with fiscals as and when we meet.

§ Mr. Marshall
When the Solicitor-General for Scotland eventually meets procurators fiscal what advice will he give to them in view of the persistent rise in crime figures in Scotland, which has been underlined by the official figures for the third quarter of 1982? Is not that record one of which he should be ashamed, in view of the promises on law and order made by the Conservative party during the last election campaign?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
No, that is not a matter of which the Government should be ashamed. Not only have the Government significantly increased the number of police in Scotland, but we have put on to the statute book the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, which anyone who is truly concerned about the issue of law and order in Scotland will appreciate was a most important step forward.

§ Mr. Canavan
In view of the recent prosecutions of people involved in peaceful demonstrations against nuclear weapons and the recent wise remarks of the learned sheriff, which were unfairly criticised by the unlearned chairman of the Scottish Tory party, will the Solicitor-General for Scotland tell his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to resist the clamours of his warmongering friends in the Tory party and encourage all Scottish sheriffs to make regular peace-loving statements from their benches?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
As, in the course of the year, the hon. Gentleman has thought it appropriate to make particular criticisms of sheriffs principal for the political views that he alleged they have shown in the decisions that they have had to take, I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman was truly the last person to make any comments on this issue in the House.

§ Mr. Maclennan
Is the Solicitor-General for Scotland satisfied that the public interest is adequately protected 342 where complaints against the police are made involving allegations of criminality and where the appropriate method of inquiry is by means of reference to the procurator fiscal? Will the hon. and learned Gentleman consider whether some other means of independent investigation of complaints against the police ought to be on the agenda?

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
Complaints involving criminality against the police are not referred only to the procurator fiscal. They are also referred to Crown counsel and to either my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate or myself to make a final decision. It is interesting that the Select Committee on Home Affairs, when considering this issue involving England and Wales, made the recommendation that those south of the border should follow the procedure followed north of the border.