§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has yet made a decision on the implementation of section 48 of the Criminal Law Act 1977; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Brittan[pursuant to his reply, 26 March 1984, c. 22]: I hope to implement section 48 so that advance disclosure of the prosecution case will be available to defendants charged with offences triable either-way before they are required to indicate whether they wish to be tried in the magistrates' court or the Crown court. Disclosure would be made either by a summary of the case or by copies of witness statements taken in the case. The choice of method would rest with the prosecutor, who would have regard to the material which was available at the time disclosure was made. I shall be starting discussions of the proposals with the police, the local authority associations and other interested parties immediately. A final decision will depend on the outcome of these consultations, taking particular account of the likely cost to central and local government. Subject to that, my aim is to implement section 48 and for the rules to be made within a year. Work has therefore been put in hand on the drafting of the rules which will be required.
The approach I am adopting should minimise the need for changes in police procedure. I regard my proposals, however, as temporary. The rules which will be made will be reconsidered, in the light of experience and no later than at the time of the introduction of the independent prosecution service, with a view to prescribing a single method of advance disclosure for use in all cases. The single method is likely to be based on the supply to defendants of copies of written statements.