Major Lloydasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to complaints by local price regulation committees that delays are taking place before prosecutions can be instituted in Scotland under the Goods and Services (Price Control) Act; whether amending legislation can be introduced to simplify the present procedure, by which the local committee has to recommend a prosecution, the Central Price Regulation Committee to approve, the Board of Trade tore-approve the recommendation, the latter Department to communicate with the Lord Advocate who, if the prosecution is approved, instructs the procurator fiscal concerned in the committee's district, who then makes inquiries, if necessary, to supplement the local committee's investigation, and to permit the local committee to communicate direct with the procurator fiscal, who could then report to the Lord Advocate's Department, with whom the final decision would rest?
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§ Sir A. DuncanYes, Sir. It is necessary, in order to secure uniformity of administration, that all cases in which local price regulation committees recommend prosecution shall continue to be referred to the Central Price Regulation Committee. I intend, however, that, in future, Scottish cases in which the Central Committee agree that a prosecution should be instituted should be referred back directly to the chairman of the local price regulation committee in question and I propose to authorise him to request the Lord Advocate on behalf of the Board of Trade to institute proceedings.