§ 3.19 p.m.
§ The Lord Advocate (Lord Rodger of Earlsferry)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.
This Bill is the first of a package of four consolidation Bills on the Order Paper in my name. With the leave of the House, I shall speak briefly to all four together and then move the remaining Bills formally.
The purpose of the four Bills is to consolidate legislation on criminal matters in Scotland. The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Bill is the largest measure. It effects the first consolidation of criminal procedure since 1975. The opportunity has been taken to present the law in a more coherent and better structured form.
The Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Bill contains the particular procedural provisions which apply to confiscation and forfeiture of the proceeds of crime.
The Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill draws together a number of enactments dealing with substantive law which were included in the procedural statutes which are to be repealed on consolidation. The opportunity has also been taken to bring together a number of other statutory offences so that all may be found more conveniently.
Finally, the Criminal Procedure (Consequential Provisions) (Scotland) Bill makes amendments consequential on the consolidation package and provides for transitional matters and savings.
If your Lordships are content to give the Bills a Second Reading, they will be referred, in the usual way, to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills. I commend the Bills to your Lordships.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read a second time.—(Lord Rodger of Earlsferry.)
§ Lord Macaulay of BragarMy Lords, these four Bills are greatly welcomed by the legal profession in Scotland. It is perhaps an overdue consolidation of the criminal law to date. I am sure that the Bills will be of great value to practitioners and, perhaps more importantly, to the courts in the efficient administration of justice and to clients who will be able to obtain advice from their advisers without 15 the need for the complicated research which has been required up till now in order to establish what the up-to-date law is. This will make great inroads in the saving of time and research in the presentation of cases in the criminal courts in Scotland. All four Bills are welcome.
§ On Question, Bill read a second time, and referred to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.