§ Mr. Martinasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if he will take steps to bring the procedure for notifying deaths connected with industrial diseases in Scotland into line with the procedure in England and Wales to ensure that a post mortem is carried out.
§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland (Mr. Peter Fraser)Procurators fiscal carry out investigation into sudden, unexplained and suspicious deaths, and are required to inquire into deaths arising out of industrial employment, by accident, industrial disease or industrial poisoning. The general register office issues a list of types of death which are to be reported to the procurator fiscal. That list includes a reference to industrial diseases and gives details of those particular diseases which should be reported. The list has recently been revised and extended. In the context of industrial diseases it is now substantially the same as that issued to registrars in England who are required by regulations to report such deaths to coroners. The Crown Office is anxious to co-operate fully with the pneumoconiosis medical panel and DHSS with a view to establishing a satisfactory procedure for dealing with such deaths and ensuring that autopsies take place where required.