§ Sir Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland how many letters which have been with the Department for four, six, eight, 10 and over 12 weeks, respectively, as at 10 April and which were from Members of Parliament remain without substantive replies from the Lord Advocate's Department.
§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandAs far as the Crown Office is concerned there were two letters which had not received substantive replies after four weeks, none after six weeks, three letters which have been outstanding for eight weeks, none after 10 weeks and none over 12 weeks. There are others which have received substantive but not final replies as they await the result of prosecutions. There must often, of necessity, be a delay in replies relating to Crown Office work pending the result of a criminal investigation on a prosecution.
So far as Scottish courts administration is concerned, correspondence involving matters within its 'field is generally answered within about three weeks of the date of the original letter. As at 10 April there was only one case which had been under consideration for about six weeks and remained without a substantive reply. This involved consultation on complex matters of law. An interim reply was sent and a substantive reply is about to be issued.
As regards the Lord Advocate's Department there were no outstanding replies as at 10 April.