State Security (Hansard, 9 February 1987)

§ Mr. Tony Banks
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland if the warrant sought by the special branch in relation to BBC Scotland referred to all six Secret Society programmes made by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
I have arranged for a copy of the warrant to be placed in the Library of the House and I would refer the hon. Gentleman to its terms.

§ Mr. Wallace
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland whether, in considering the petition for a warrant to search the premises of BBC Scotland at Queen Margaret drive, Glasgow, the Lord Advocate or the procurator fiscal were presented with any evidence which suggested or tended to suggest that offences under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act had been or were about to be committed in respect of the compilation or production of any of the five episodes of BBC Scotland's "The Secret Society" series, other than that dealing with the Zircon satellite project; and if he will make a statement.
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§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
Any information communicated by the police to the procurator fiscal in the course of a criminal investigation is confidential, but for the purposes of securing a warrant, a petition narrating the grounds for the application was presented to the sheriff and was sworn to by an officer of the Metropolitan police. I am arranging for a copy of the petition which was presented to Sheriff Lockhart to be placed in the Library of the House.

§ Mr. Dalyell
asked the Solicitor-General for Scotland what assessment the procurator fiscal made in applying, with the authority of the Lord Advocate, for a search warrant for the BBC's Glasgow offices, as to the necessity of searching for and seizing material relating to all six of the programmes in the BBC series, "The Secret Society".

§ The Solicitor-General for Scotland
In applying to a sheriff at Glasgow for the warrant which was sought in this case, the procurator fiscal proceeded upon the basis of information provided by an officer of the Metropolitan police, as was stated by my noble and learned Friend the Lord Advocate in his answer in another place on Wednesday 4 February 1987.