HC Deb 18 January 1988 vol 125 cc515-9W
Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of reports submitted by the police to procurators fiscal were marked "no proceedings" by reason of resources not being available to deal with them within the judicial system, in each fiscaldom in Scotland in respect of each full year since 1984 and in 1987 up to the date for which information is available.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

This information is not available.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many reports submitted by the police to procurators fiscal were marked for no proceedings in each fiscaldom in Scotland in respect of the years 1984, 1985 and 1986 and to the most recently available date in 1987.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The figures are set out in the table. Only the figures for January to November inclusive are available for 1987.

Number of cases marked no proceedings
Offices 1984 1985 1986 1987
Aberdeen 413 1,539 4,366 3,412
Airdrie 484 306 432 459
Alloa 230 239 234 222
Arbroath 271 278 206 174
Ayr 966 1,473 1,395 1,274
Banff 83 153 169 133
Campbeltown 84 124 78 85
Cupar 223 238 255 203
Dingwall 133 211 241 218
Dornoch 137 94 99 60
Dumbarton 561 826 924 786
Dumfries 167 353 315 264
Dundee 1,335 1,338 797 791
Dunfermline 828 1,178 1,429 1,121
Dunoon 192 155 251 178
Duns 95 104 123 116
Edinburgh 25,238 29,551 29,746 10,545
Elgin 613 573 812 726
Falkirk 835 1,490 1,834 1,470
Forfar 75 74 136 77
Fort William 138 185 186 245
Glasgow 7,760 9,736 10,824 18,248
Greenock 552 1,440 1,590 973
Haddington 1,008 655 715 798
Hamilton 1,750 1,666 1,914 1,987

Number of cases marked no proceedings
Offices 1984 1985 1986 1987
Inverness 708 755 967 806
Jedburgh 188 182 182 137
Kilmarnock 2,320 1,547 1,435 1,270
Kirkcaldy 985 1,064 1,163 1,364
Kirckudbright 117 110 92 73
Kirkwall 67 86 80 69
Lanark 221 172 162 172
Lerwick 216 137 57 91
Linlithgow 347 390 382 366
Lochmaddy 21 7 17 10
Oban 229 207 155 134
Paisley 2,191 2,537 3,044 2,061
Peebles 49 52 49 49
Perth 1,801 2,166 1,696 1,506
Peterhead 219 327 411 468
Portree 56 91 127 64
Rothesay 109 93 111 70
Selkirk 196 273 325 295
Stirling 380 459 537 614
Stonehaven 108 175 387 223
Stornoway 47 74 83 62
Stranraer 204 335 211 165
Tain 215 164 226 229
Wick 142 198 258 182
TOTALS 55,307 65,580 71,228 55,045

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many trials in each court in Scotland were adjourned due to pressure of business, in each year since 1984 and up to the most recent date in 1987 for which information is available.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

This information is not available centrally.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many witnesses were cited for cases which adjourned without any proceedings in(a) Edinburgh sheriff court, (b) Glasgow sheriff court, (c) Hamilton sheriff court and (d) Dunfermline sheriff court in October 1987.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The table shows in the first column the total number of witnesses cited to summary trials in the sheriff courts listed and in the second column the numbers of those witnesses whose citations were cancelled in time to save their attendance at court.

Number of witnesses cited to court in which trial was adjourned Number of witnesses whose citations were cancelled prior to trial
Edinburgh 1,150 554
Glasgow 778 594
Hamilton 329 292
Dunfermline 88 8

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Lord Advocate will make available to Parliament, on an annual basis, statistics collected by the Crown Office relating to the administration of criminal justice in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Statistics relating to the administration of criminal justice in Scotland are collected and published by the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of rape, reported to procurators fiscal by the police, were marked for no further proceedings in 1987.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

These figures are not centrally held and cannot be obtained except at disproportionate cost. However, of the 206 cases involving allegations of rape which were reported to the Crown Office in 1987, no proceedings were instructed in 70 cases.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has any proposals to transfer the administration of the district courts to the Scottish Courts Administration, and if he will make a statement.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

My right hon. and learned Friend has no proposals to alter the terms of the

Persons called to trial in District Courts in Scotland
11975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Berwickshire 72 100 73 98 63 73 78 59 66 125 139 228
Ettrick and Lauderdale 137 234 211 231 235 256 293 280 350 432 352 267
Roxburgh 197 339 277 332 314 267 324 290 425 418 338 284
Tweeddale 79 144 111 103 115 61 107 59 81 55 60 106
Clackmannan 224 297 270 290 283 341 359 484 609 782 744 798
Falkirk 743 1,525 1,538 1,499 1,572 1,530 1,618 1,667 1,950 2,188 2,117 2,487
Stirling 440 753 551 1,016 677 551 852 899 1,063 997 1,214 1,368
Annandale and Eskdale 61 92 121 101 104 118 122 172 243 354 332 585
Nithsdale 128 303 318 189 184 316 376 503 754 886 873 1,061
Stewartry 24 37 52 44 5 12 58 67 59 97 14 32
Wigtown 128 166 147 182 240 198 148 195 145 304 411 430
Dunfermline 329 663 511 670 695 828 1,304 1,292 1,831 1,297 811 1,002
Kirkcaldy 648 834 658 644 630 856 971 1,390 1,087 1,978 1,805 1,733
North East Fife 121 190 254 261 208 242 251 225 433 583 563 545
City of Aberdeen 1,657 2,978 3,046 3,118 3,584 3,429 4,421 3,668 4,004 3,644 4,153 4,171
Banff and Buehan 248 385 333 347 410 366 585 706 713 732 791 1,056
Gordon 131 261 185 205 263 235 231 181 407 462 396 407
Kincardine and Deeside 120 243 207 216 303 393 401 327 399 666 706 608
Moray 232 676 735 702 758 665 924 584 868 772 829 859
Badenoch and Strathspey 91 174 130 182 167 212 208 137 142 240 184 159
Caithness 51 210 290 208 288 294 279 218 201 148 185 191
Inverness 700 1,141 719 684 1,125 1,078 1,013 785 890 1,085 1,046 1,251
Lochaber 49 101 123 188 238 239 284 263 232 233 280 246
Nairn 38 89 48 66 89 82 111 132 95 140 107 176
Ross and Cromarty 292 306 297 367 344 364 418 428 430 618 658 677
Skye and Lochalsh 51 53 51 42 45 44 69 51 77 72 80 100
Sutherland 12 61 66 50 57 76 61 78 76
East Lothian 554 879 496 671 588 652 695 661 909 746 644 872
City of Edinburgh 7,290 8,976 8,170 8,457 8,351 9,065 9,762 10,378 10,630 10,841 6,987 6,089
Midlothian 531 1,105 756 711 766 765 727 643 930 1,017 880 1,020
West Lothian 595 951 1,364 1,318 1,252 1,809 1,615 1,677 2,710 3,231 2,268 2,960
Argyll and Bute 491 709 821 822 659 661 714 788 809 758 942 721
Bearsden and Milngavie 130 151 126 122 214 175 202 157 166 160 126 190
Clydebank 453 822 797 1,077 961 1,098 1,464 1,193 1,326 1,159 707 884
Clydesdale 155 381 315 370 316 395 466 416 471 730 919 1,190
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 251 422 504 419 581 606 830 554 547 567 571 744
Cumnock and Doon Valley 363 407 239 206 120 219 223 464 417 471 441 481
Cunninghame 960 1,457 1,095 1,002 1,199 1,211 1,230 2,050 1,923 2,453 2,217 2,492
Dumbarton 639 1,164 943 1,002 1,030 1,097 974 1,097 1,222 1,154 1,119 1,120
East Kilbride 499 800 801 798 828 1,200 1,125 1,016 784 1,087 1,110 1,229
Eastwood 233 276 148 187 133 197 176 160 218 228 160 173
City of Glasgow 17,457 27,376 22,982 24,653 28,700 31,162 32,444 29,598 33,301 31,295 35,598 31,868
Hamilton 1,305 2,010 1,229 789 1,239 1,663 2,170 2,295 2,209 1,848 2,228 2,080
Inverclyde 2,699 3,986 3,219 3,380 3,485 3,502 3,469 3,499 3,190 2,946 2,058 1,673
Kilmarnock and Loudoun 583 571 506 472 713 771 886 926 1,219 1,222 1,095 1,176
Kyle and Carrick 482 800 660 629 992 1,044 1,447 1,445 1,902 1,496 1,423 945
Monklands 1,230 2,393 2,192 2,366 2,222 1,903 3,239 2,260 2,190 1,640 1,893 2,050
Motherwell 2,326 3,183 2,678 2,781 2,959 3,177 4,312 4,374 3,359 3,216 3,270 3,291
Renfrew 1,773 2,946 2,401 2,442 2,779 2,699 2,593 2,171 2,923 2,718 2,692 1,576
Strathkelvin 373 478 358 714 707 985 89tf 850 759 896 789 1,224
Angus 514 748 572 575 496 518 894 950 848 1,057 1,087 1,155
City of Dundee 2,140 3,748 3,575 3,629 3,791 3,939 5,345 4,898 4,488 4,637 5,071 5,390
Perth and Kinross 561 1,137 1,063 1,052 934 1,084 1,255 1,312 1,307 1,532 1,375 1,118
Western Isles 47 80 135 188 196 157 156 145 125 90 53 90
Court not known 12 2 2 1 15
Scotland Total 51,625 80,274 69,464 72,883 79,202 84,862 95,184 91,115 98,436 98,503 96,989 94,704
1 District Courts were introduced on 16 May 1975, to replace the Justice of the Peace Courts and Burgh (or Police) Courts.

District Courts (Scotland) Act 1975, under which the administration of district courts is a function of district and islands councils.

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases and persons were dealt with by each district court in Scotland in each year since 1975.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The available information, which relates to persons dealt with by the district courts, is given in the table:

Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of reports submitted by the police to procurators fiscal were marked no proceedings in each fiscaldom in Scotland in each of the years 1984, 1985, and 1986 and to the most recently available date in 1987.

Proportion of Reports marked No Proceedings
Offices 1984 Per cent. 1985 Per cent. 1986 Per cent. 1987 Per cent.
Aberdeen 2.8 9.0 25.0 25.9
Airdrie 6.2 3.8 4.8 5.0
Alloa 9.2 9.0 9.6 8.9
Arbroath 11.0 10.9 8.3 8.3
Ayr 13.2 17.2 15.7 14.5
Banff 9.1 15.1 15.0 12.9
Campbeltown 11.9 13.3 9.3 11.0
Cupar 10.1 9.9 10.7 8.6
Dingwall 8.8 12.3 13.0 13.7
Dornoch 21.4 14.0 15.6 11.1
Dumbarton 7.9 10.0 11.0 9.8
Dumfries 2.3 4.2 3.7 3.4
Dundee 9.5 8.6 5.1 6.0
Dunfermline 14.0 19.1 21.4 18.3
Dunoon 12.3 10.2 16.9 12.2
Duns 12.8 12.2 14.5 12.6
Edinburgh 43.5 48.3 49.4 26.4
Elgin 15.7 15.1 19.8 17.8
Falkirk 10.4 17.8 19.9 17.0
Forfar 2.7 2.2 4.3 2.4
Fort William 11.5 14.5 15.3 18.5
Glasgow 10.8 12.9 14.7 25.4
Greenock 8.3 20.9 23.8 14.9
Haddington 31.4 19.2 19.5 21.4
Hamilton 9.3 8.2 8.5 8.9
Inverness 11.8 11.5 13.6 13.4
Jedburgh 13.1 11.1 12.4 8.8
Kilmarnock 20.7 13.0 12.2 10.9
Kirkcaldy 13.5 13.0 14.1 16.0
Kirkcudbright 12.7 9.9 8.7 5.8
Kirkwall 11.3 13.5 12.3 11.7
Lanark 10.2 6.8 5.0 3.9
Lerwick 24.5 16.3 7.2 11.3
Linlithgow 5.0 5.2 5.2 5.0
Lochmaddy 9.7 2.9 5.6 4.9
Oban 15.3 14.4 12.5 12.6
Paisley 19.0 20.5 25.1 17.9
Peebles 8.0 7.1 6.7 6.7
Perth 22.6 26.4 21.2 17.6
Peterhead 9.9 14.9 16.0 20.0
Portree 11.4 15.6 17.9 12.9
Rothesay 18.0 19.6 26.4 16.2
Selkirk 12.0 15.5 18.0 15.2
Stirling 7.9 8.1 8.4 10.3
Stonehaven 4.2 5.6 11.6 9.4
Stornoway 5.7 11.0 10.1 9.3
Stranraer 9.4 16.0 10.5 8.0
Tain 14.9 12.1 14.9 17.0
Wick 12.7 16.3 17.4 18.2
TOTALS 16.8 18.5 19.9 17.0