§ Mr. Allan StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Lord Advocate proposes any changes to the Crown Office cash and running cost limits for 1989–90.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe cash limit for class XI, vote 14 will be reduced by £499,000 from £26,798,000 to £26,299,000. This is the net effect of a token Supplementary Estimate of £1,000 and a decrease of £500,000 to offset the increase sought on class XI, vote 13 for Crown Office, Scotland: Crown prosecutions and legal services. Within this total the running cost limit for the Crown Office will be increased by £850,000 from £19,786,000 to £20,636,000. This is to enable the Crown Office to meet the cost of hiring additional casual staff, greater than expected salary increases, additional costs relating to tape recording of interviews with suspects and926W higher than expected costs of hiring temporary procurators fiscal. This increase is fully offset by saving on capital expenditure elsewhere on the vote.