§ 44. Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland whether he can give an estimate as to the length of time on average it takes for cases, reported to him, the Lord Advocate, or to procurators fiscal (a) to be brought to the High Court and (b) to be conducted during 1984–85; and whether it is his policy to ensure that cases are heard as quickly as possible.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandThe Crown is required by statute to serve an indictment on accused persons who have been refused bail within 80 days of full committal, and to commence the trial within 110 days. There is limited provision for extension, but in 1983, which is the latest year for which figures are available, only six cases did not come to trial within 110 days.
The Crown endeavours to serve an indictment as early as possible, and in custody cases this is generally done within 70 days. In High Court cases where the accused is released on bail, the trial must be commenced within 12 months of first appearance of the accused on petition. No figures are available to indicate the length of time taken to conclude cases once the trial has commenced.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonIn view of the great increase in the number of drugs cases, will my hon. and learned Friend confirm that steps will be taken to ensure that reported cases are brought to trial as quickly as possible?
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandYes, there is a tight statutory timetable to be adhered to. Possibly of greater importance and interest to my hon. Friend is the fact that my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Advocate has decided that cases involving the supply of hard drugs in Scotland should generally be brought in the High Court to ensure that the full range of penalties is available to the court.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will understand that an English hon. 302 Member comes into Scottish questions with some trepidation. You will also know that I have tabled Question No. 12 on forestry policy—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman's question was not reached. I cannot deal with that matter. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not ask his question now.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe point is whether forestry questions should be down for answer by the Secretary of State for Scotland, as they apply to the whole of the United Kingdom. That is unfortunate for hon. Members with English constituencies. Is it possible for the matter to be reviewed?
§ Mr. WilsonFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Hon. Members representing Scottish constituencies will have noticed the increasing number of English Members who have come to Scottish questions recently — [HON. MEMBERS: "Why not?"] — thus making it difficult for Scottish Members to monitor the work of the Secretary of State for Scotland, which covers some eight or nine Ministries. Taking forestry questions, which is a United Kingdom function, during Scottish questions is attracting even more English Members to Scottish questions. They are caught up in the magnificence of our proceedings and join in, thus making it more difficult for us to get a word in edgeways. If Scottish questions are to include other matters such as forestry, is it not desirable to have Scottish questions every three weeks, as used to be the case, rather than every four?
§ Mr. Robin Maxwell-Hysloprose—
§ Mr. Robert Hughesrose—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. This takes up a lot of time.
§ Mr. ForthFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Will you confirm that hon. Members who represent English constituencies are as entitled to attend Scottish questions as are Scottish Members to attend and participate in other Question Times?
§ Mr. Robert HughesFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I draw your attention to the fact that Scottish questions overran the allotted time to 3.20 pm by a couple of minutes? I am not complaining about that—
§ Mr. SpeakerOne minute.
§ Mr. Robert HughesOne minute. Had the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle) not immediately jumped up on a point of order, my question, No. 45, might have been called in injury time. As it has not been reached, may I give notice that I shall seek to raise the matter on the Adjournment at the earliest opportunity?
§ Mr. EwingFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I understand and sympathise with the difficulties of the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle). Leaving out questions to the Solicitor-General for Scotland, Scottish Office Ministers answered 10 questions today.
When previously I raised with you the question about which hon. Members you allowed to catch your eye, you rightly told me that you attempted to call hon. Members with questions on the Order Paper and said that if the Opposition Front Bench did not take up so much time, more Back Benchers would be called. I thought that. I 303 should point out that, while at our previous Scottish Question Time, my Front Bench colleagues and myself rose on only three occasions and today on only four occasions, that did not help progress during Scottish questions. You chose to call five Conservative Members—four English and one Scot—who did not even have questions on the Order Paper. What is the position? Will hon. Members with questions on the Order Paper be called, or given that there is a serious shortage of Scottish Tories, are the Government packing the Conservative Benches with English Tories to try to achieve a balance?
§ Mr. Maxwell-HyslopFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. This raises a point of some substance. It is an observable fact that Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Members expect to catch your eye with greater facility on matters affecting their parts of the United Kingdom. However, they expect to catch your eye with equal facility when Ministers from the English part of the United Kingdom are answering questions. This is a serious rather than a trivial or passing matter, and the only way 304 to resolve it is to declare that, apart from the hon. Member who has tabled a question, we are all Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and have an equal aspiration to good fortune in catching your eye.
§ Mr. CanavanFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Do you agree with me that all these complaints and time-wasting tactics strengthen the case for setting up a Scottish Parliament?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Tiverton (Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop) is correct. This is the United Kingdom Parliament, and everyone has an opportunity to catch the eye of the Chair. I make a judgment every day—I think I have said this before—about matters of interest to Members. Today I judged that the miners' strike, rating and teachers' pay were matters of considerable interest. It would have been possible to race down the Order Paper, but I managed to called 28 hon. Members, 16 of whom had later questions on the Order Paper on those very topics. I do not think that we should ever exclude English Members just because it is Scottish Question Time.