§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will confer with the Secretary of State for the Home Department upon the comparative effectiveness of present methods of punishment in Her Majesty's prisons in different parts of the United Kingdom, with a view to changing from the uniformity of penalties now inflicted in Scottish prisons to a penalty bearing a 129W direct relation to the particular kind of offence of which the particular prisoner was convicted; and what steps he proposes to take in the matter.
§ Mr. MaclayThe Scottish courts already have a wide range of methods of disposal available to them, from which they may choose in each case the one which they consider best fitted to the particular offence and offender. Those offenders who are sentenced to imprison-130W ment are allocated to prisons, and halls within these prisons, in accordance with a classification scheme. The scheme is flexible enough to enable the best interests of each individual prisoner to be taken into account, although at present its operation is hampered by pressure of numbers. All these matters will be within the purview of the Scottish Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders which I am now appointing.