§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Attorney-General whether he will give details of the number of occasions when the Official Solicitor intervened in matters connected with legal proceedings concerning industrial disputes and with what results; and 618W why his help was not requested before action was taken against the Shrewsbury pickets.
The Solicitor-GeneralThe Official Solicitor took action on two occasions in 1972 when persons had been committed to prison for contempt of court in legal proceedings arising out of industrial disputes. In one (Churchman and others v. The Joint Shop Stewards' Committee of the Workers of the Port of London) he succeeded in having the committal order set aside before it was executed: in the other (Midland Cold Storage Ltd. v. Steer and others) he obtained an order for the contemnors' release from prison. Records do not reveal whether any other cases in which he has acted in recent years were connected with industrial disputes.
In taking the action referred to above the Official Solicitor was discharging his normal duty to review all cases of persons committed to prison for contempt of court and to take such action as he may deem necessary. He has no function to perform in connection with the institution of criminal prosecutions and there was no basis on which his help could have been requested before proceedings were brought in the Shrewsbury cases for offences against the criminal law.