§ Mr. Home Robertsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is satisfied with the standard of security and the procedures for vetting security personnel at Royal residences and major Government and public premises in Scotland; and how many members of private security firms' staff are employed for these responsibilities.
§ Mr. YoungerI am responsible for premises where the Scottish Office is the sole or major occupier and I believe the standard of security there to be adequate.
As regards Royal residences, the chief constables concerned regularly review those aspects of security for which they are responsible and I have asked them to examine these again with special care and to report the results to me.
Normal vetting of directly employed security staff is carried out in accordance with procedures laid down for the Civil Service as a whole.
One private security firm is employed to guard two buildings during silent hours.