HC Deb 25 January 1985 vol 71 cc547-8W
Mr. Eldon Griffiths

asked the Attorney-General what means he has available to scrutinise non-English language publications that circulate among ethnic minorities in order to ascertain whether inflammatory material is being published that is offensive under section 70 of the Race Relations Act or the Public Order Act; what steps he has taken to bring prosecutions when such material is published; and what have been the results.

The Attorney-General

I do not have the facilities available within my Department for the routine scrutiny of non-English language publications. If I receive a complaint about such publications, and have reason to believe that an offence may have been committed under this provision, I will ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to refer the matter to the police, who have translation facilities available to them. Before reaching a decision to refer the matter to the police for translation, I welcome an indication, however rough, of the contents of

EC unemployment
Unadjusted, national definitions OECD standardised rates
Latest month Thousands Percentage rate Latest month Percentage rate
Belgium November 510.0 18.5 November 15.7
Denmark October 257.4 9.8 * *
France December 2,524.9 13.2 November 9.2

the material. So far as I am aware there have been no prosecutions under section 5A Public Order Act 1936 in respect of non-English language publications. However, in 1982 the Director of Public Prosecutions on his own initiative referred two editions of "Punjab Times" and one edition of "Des Pardes" to the police for translation. The Director decided that no action under section 5A Public Order Act was required in respect of these editions, and did not refer the matter to me.