§ Mr. Canavanasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland how much the Government spent to defend the recent action before the European Court of Human Rights which involved parents' rights to forbid corporal punishment of their schoolchildren.
The Solicitor-General for ScotlandMy noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate, who represented the Government in the recent proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights in the Campbell and Cosans case, and the Government officials who worked on the case did so as part of the normal duties of their respective offices and received no payment additional to the normal remuneration of these offices.
The amount of other expenditure on the case—including payments due to the advocate and barrister who assisted my noble and learned Friend—is not yet settled but I undertake to write further with that information when it is available.