§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if the Lord Advocate will call for a report from the office of the procurator fiscal in Glasgow about the progress of inquiries in connection with the police search of BBC premises in Glasgow on 31 January and 1 February; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandThe Crown Office is being advised of the progress of the procurator fiscal's inquiries. Once the procurator fiscal is in a position to submit a formal report to the Lord Advocate, he will do
446WTo date, 211 articles have been examined and returned to the BBC.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if he will list all the occasions since 1979 on which the Lord Advocate, the Crown Office or procurators fiscal have sought advice from outside Her Majesty's Government in cases involving alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Acts in relation to (a) their assessment of the extent of any damage to national security for the purposes of determining the need for and scope of police inquiries and possible search warrants and (b) their subsequent decision as to whether to bring a prosecution; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandAny request for advice from outside Her Majesty's Government would he confidential; but it is not the Lord Advocate's practice to seek such advice.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland to what extent (a) the Lord Advocate and (b) the local procurator fiscal are being kept informed about progress with the police inquiries in Scotland into alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Acts in relation to project Zircon; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandThe procurator fiscal is being kept informed from time to time about progress with the police inquiries in Scotland into alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Acts in relation to project Zircon and the Lord Advocate is being kept informed by the procurator fiscal of these matters. A full report will be prepared and submitted by the police to the procurator fiscal in due course.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland, pursuant to the answer of 11 February, what is the Lord Advocate's practice with regard to (a) informing as opposed to consulting other Ministers about applications for search warrants in relation to alleged offences under the Official Secrets Acts and (b) keeping other Ministers informed about the progress of police inquiries into such alleged offences; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandWhether and to what extent the Lord Advocate would(a) inform as opposed to consulting other Ministers about applications for search warrants in relation to alleged offences under the Official Secrets Acts and (b) keep other Ministers informed about the progress of police inquiries into such alleged offences would depend on the circumstances of the particular case.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland why the Lord Advocate did not seek to obtain an interim interdict or an interdict in perpetuity in relation to the publication of material in Scotland concerning the proposed BBC programme about Project Zircon, as soon as he became aware of the likelihood that an article on the subject by Mr. Duncan Campbell was to be published in the New Statesman of 23 January; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandMy noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate was not aware and had no grounds for believing that there was a threat or likelihood of publication of this material by theNew Statesman.
447W
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 11 February, Official Report, column 308, by what means the procurator fiscal knew the attitude of the BBC to the requirement of due legal process in relation to requests by the police to search the corporation's Glasgow premises; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandI refer the hon. Member to the statement by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, which is reported in theOfficial Report for 3 February 1987 at column 825, and to my answer to the hon. Member's written question on 9 February 1987, at column 9.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland to what extent his consideration of the public interest in assessing the need for, and scope of, a search warrant requested by the police differs from that which he applied in deciding whether to bring prosecutions in cases involving breaches of the Official Secrets Act; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandIn cases of alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Acts, as in many other types of case, consideration requires to be given to the public interest by the Lord Advocate in deciding whether to direct the carrying out of a criminal investigation and thereafter, where that investigation has produced a legal sufficiency of evidence, whether there should be a prosecution. An application for a search warrant by a procurator fiscal at the request of the police in the course of a criminal investigation is part of the evidence-gathering process in such an investigation.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 11 February, Official Report, column 308, what precise steps the Lord Advocate took to satisfy himself of the adequacy and scope of search warrants in the course of criminal investigations by the police into alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Act in relation to Project Zircon; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandI refer the hon. Member to my noble and learned Friend the Lord
District Health Authority Mental illness or handicap hospitals proposed for closure in strategic plan (before 1995) Status of strategic plan Mental illness or handicap hospitals where District Health Authority has indicated a possibility of closure (after 1995) Number of in-patients at December 1986 Clwyd Pool Park Approved by Secretary of State — 56 Gwent Pen-y-fal Approved by Secretary of State — 445 — — Llanfrechfa Grange 330 Mid Glamorgan Pare Approval under consideration — 536 — — Hensol 402 Powys — — Llys Maldwen 56 or Bryn Hyfryd 59 South Glamorgan — — Ely 410
§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Wales what is the number of long-stay patients discharged from each mental hospital since 1981.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonThe latest information is as follows:
448WAdvocate's answers in another place on 4 February 1987 Official Report, columns 199–205 to which I have nothing to add.