§ Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden on 6 August 1980, if a report is now available on current experiments with tape recording in Scottish police stations.
§ Mr. RifkindThe interim report on the experiment which we have received from our research unit has shown that there are no insuperable technical difficulties in the actual recording on tape of police interrogations. But there are difficulties to be resolved about the bringing of the tapes as evidence before the court. In particular, a recent judicial decision that, if used, the whole tape must be admissible raises problems about the introduction in evidence of tapes which include matter which, although perfectly proper to a police interrogation or volunteered by the suspect, is irrelevant or possibly prejudicial. I hope to be in a position to make a fuller statement in due course.