§ Mr. FavellTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last made an assessment of the running costs of a Scottish assembly.
§ Mr. RifkindThe Government believe that the present constitutional arrangements provide for Scotland's interests to be fully respected and recognised and we therefore have no plans to introduce legislation to create a Scottish Assembly. Accordingly, I have made no assessment of the running costs of an Assembly. The 1978 scheme of devolution, however, was estimated to cost £13 million at November 1977 prices. Any new scheme would clearly cost very considerably more than that.