§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will establish a full independent inquiry into the Scottish prison service that will consider the length of sentences, the impact of fine defaulters on the system, the use of remand by the courts, the needs of drug and alcohol abusers, and the role and purpose of the present authorities.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonNo. An inquiry of this kind would be very protracted and unnecessarily delay initiatives which the Government have already announced for the Scottish prison service and the penal system as a whole. The activities of the Scottish prison service are closely monitored by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland and by visiting committees for individual establishments.