§ Mr. Ancramasked the Secretary of State for Scotland, further to his written answer on 13 April, Official Report, Volume 3, column 36, when the remaining provisions of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 will be brought into effect.
§ Mr. YoungerAs I announced in my written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Argyll (Mr. Mackay) on 13 April 1981—[Vol. 3, c.36]—I had hoped to bring the remaining provisions of the Act, with the exception of the provisions on the detention of young offenders, into effect by late summer 1981. Unfortunately the necessary preparations have taken considerably longer than expected and the industrial action in Glasgow and Edinburgh Sheriff
202WCourts has caused delay. I have now made a fourth commencement order to bring the following provisions of the Act into effect on 1 January 1982:
- Section 6 (judicial examination)
- Section 12 and Schedule 4 (abolition of mandatory first diet in solemn procedure)
- Section 13 (written notice of evidence incriminating co-accused in solemn procedure)
- Section 16 (procedure where accused desires to plead guilty under solemn procedure)
- Section 36 (appeals from decisions on competency and relevancy in summary proceedings)
The only provisions of the Act remaining to be implemented after 1 January 1982 will be section 45 and Schedule 5 (detention of young offenders), and the parts of Schedules 7 and 8 consequential to these. The timing of the implementation of these provisions will depend on the speed with which the necessary preparation can be made. It is hoped that it will be possible to implement them in the Spring of 1982; an announcement about the specific implementation date will be made in due course.