§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the Scottish Prison Service has refused to provide the Penal Lexicon for publication on their web site, given that the material it contains is freely available to all other information media; and whether they can explain how, as the Scottish Prison Service claims, the provision of information to the penal lexicon now could inhibit plans the Scottish Prison 50WA Service may have to develop their own web site at an unspecified future date.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office (The Earl of Lindsay)The subject of the Question relates to matters undertaken by the Scottish Prison Service. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive, Mr. E. W. Frizzell, to write to the Noble Lord.
Letter to Lord Avebury from the Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service, Mr. E. W. Frizzell, dated 21st January 1997.
The Earl of Lindsay has asked me to reply to your Question about the provision of information to the penal lexicon for publication on their web site.
A great deal of information about the Scottish Prison Service is already made available to the public. We are considering establishing a web site for the Scottish Prison Service. That would probably be a more appropriate way of using the Internet than through a third party.
However, we are keeping the position about making information available to the penal lexicon for publication on their web site under review in the light of experience in England and Wales.