§ 34. Mr. Hendersonasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland what progress is being made in his Department in the use of information technology.
§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland (Mr. Peter Fraser)My Department has been actively engaged for about two years in investigating and developing the potential uses of computer technology for the preparation of Scottish legislation and the storage and retrieval of that and other Scottish legal material. The Crown Office is also planning a major project in information processing in the procurator fiscal service.
§ Mr. HendersonI am grateful to my hon. and learned Friend for that reply. Does he envisage the accessibility of the data bases being more widely available to Members of Parliament, legal practitioners and the general public? If he has received representations from the information 870 technology industry in Scotland will he consider whether some of the systems developed in his Department might be marketable in other countries?
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his interest. We are involved with specialist techniques in looking towards what might be done for the drafting of Scottish legislation. We envisage that the data base that is built up within the Lord Advocate's Department might have a use for Members of Parliament and the legal profession as well as for parliamentary draftsmen.