§ Mr. Canavanasked the Lord Advocate if he will make a statement about the effects on his Department of the proposals contained in the recent White Paper on Devolution.
The Lord AdvocateThere are two Departments for which I hold exclusive responsibility—the Crown Office in Edinburgh, which is concerned with prosecutions in Scotland, and the Lord Advocate's Department in London, the members of which assist me generally in the discharge of my functions, advise certain Government Departments on Scots law, and are the Parliamentary Draftsmen for Scotland. Under the White Paper proposals, I would remain responsible for prosecutions in Scotland, so that I would not expect the implementation of the proposals to have any substantial effect on the Crown Office. It is more difficult to foresee the effects on the Lord Advocate's Department, but my present view is that these would not be great except as regards parliamentary drafting: the devolution of legislative functions to a Scottish Assembly would necessarily diminish the volume of Scottish legislation in Parliament.