§ Lord Morton of Shunaasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they propose to take to reduce the delay in disposing of civil business in the Court of Session and to meet the steeply rising criminal workload of the High Court of Justiciary following consideration of the Report of the Review Body on the use of Judicial Time by the committee chaired by Lord Maxwell.
§ The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord Glenarthur)The review body, whose report was published on 18th July this year, made a number of recommendations most of which fall within the responsibility of the Lord President of the Court of Session, and many have been or are being implemented. The review body also suggested that a number of legislative reforms be considered. Consultation with interested bodies and organisations on these has been completed and consideration is now being given to the comments which have been received. Consideration is also being given to other measures to improve the disposal of business in the Superior Courts.