§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if he will list the criteria the Lord Advocate uses when deciding whether to prosecute under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandAny case of an alleged contravention of section 2 of the Official Secrets Act would be looked at on its own merits, and the same considerations would be applied in deciding whether to prosecute as are applied in any other case. These include consideration of whether the facts, if proved, would constitute the offence, whether there is sufficient evidence and whether, taking all the circumstances of the offence into account, prosecution is the most appropriate method of dealing with the case.