§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will defer implementing his proposals for an independent prosecutor in respect of 276W young persons aged under 17 years until Her Majesty's Government's review of the proposals of the Social Services Committee in its report "The Care of Children" is available.
§ Mr. MellorNo. This reform will not affect the operation of the existing arrangements for consultation between the police and other agencies before any decision to prosecute a juvenile is taken; it will indeed provide an opportunity for such decisions to be independently reviewed. Nor will it prejudice the Government's further consideration of the issues which the Select Committee raised concerning procedures for dealing with juveniles alleged to have committed offences. (The Government's response to the Committee's specific recommendations was given in Cmnd. 9298, published in July).