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Electronic Surveillance
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what guidance chief constables in Scotland operate under in relation to electronic surveillance of suspects; and what is his Department's involvement in the process; [14131]
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(3) what new proposals he has in respect of the powers of chief constables in Scotland to implement electronic surveillance of suspects; in what circumstances electronic surveillance operations are currently permissible. [14135]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 3 February 1997]: Electronic surveillance of suspects may be authorised by chief constables in Scotland in accordance with non-statutory guidelines on intrusive surveillance issued by the Scottish Office in 1985.
Under the current guidelines, intrusive surveillance may be authorised only in circumstances where the investigation concerns serious crime, normal methods of investigation have been tried and failed, or are unlikely to succeed, and there is good reason to think that the use of equipment would be likely to lead to an arrest and a conviction or, where appropriate, to the prevention of acts of terrorism.
Figures for each of the last five years are not available centrally.
Mr. McFall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will assess the advantages of extending the provisions of part V of the Crime and Punishment Bill (Scotland) to members of the Faculty of Advocates to enhance consumer protection. [19073]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 18 March 1997]: My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to extend the provisions of part V to members of the Faculty of Advocates. Such a proposal would require consultation with those affected and further detailed consideration in the light of experience of the implementation of these provisions in relation to solicitors.
Mr. McFall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) rape and (b) sexual assault victims were under the age of 16 in each of the last five years. [19123]
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Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 10 March 1997]: Information is not collected centrally on the age of victims in recorded crimes of rape, assault with intent to rape or ravish or indecent assault.
Mr. McFall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will assess the advantages of extending the length of probation orders for those who commit sexual offences to a maximum of five years. [19074]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 10 March 1997]: No representations have been received proposing such a change. Any views put forward will be considered by the working group tasked with any future review of the national objectives and standards for social work services in the criminal justice system in respect of probation. Any legislative changes recommended by that group would be considered.
Sir David Steel:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to implement recommendation No. 33 of the report of the Scottish Salmon strategy task force. [20816]
Mr. Baldry:
I have been asked to reply.
My right hon. Friend, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has received a copy of the task force report. This Department will be closely involved in formulating the Government's formal response to the recommendations affecting fisheries in England. However, no decisions will be taken until the consultation process is complete.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department and its executive agencies have spent drafting, publishing and circulating each of their customer charters and customer standard documents; and how many copies of each document have been issued. [19395]
Mr. Darling:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give a breakdown of his Department's spending on each charter produced under the citizens charter programme. [20183]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
The information requested is set out in the table:
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(2) on how many occasions chief constables in Scotland have authorised electronic surveillance of suspects outside the terms of the Interception of Communications Act 1985 in each of the last five years; [14132]
n/a indicated that the information requested is either not available or is not known.
Figures on numbers issued are actual numbers issued where known or numbers printed where not known.
The SAAS charter is incorporated in the booklet "Student Grants in Scotland" which is revised and re-issued each year to all students.
The statistical services charter is published on the back of all statistical bulletins, so there are no separate costs and it is difficult to estimate numbers issued.
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Mr. Wilson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much has been paid from public funds in each of the past 20 years to the owners of (a) Glenfeshie and (b) Rothiemurchus estates for the purposes of (i) conservation and (ii) forest regeneration. [19911]
Mr. Kynoch:
Information in the form requested on payments by Scottish Natural Heritage and its predecessor bodies is not available, but I have asked the SNH to write to the hon. Member.
| Year | Amount (£) |
|---|---|
| Glenfeshie | |
| 1979 | 1,860 |
| 1987 | 8,370 |
| Rothiemurchus (figures prior to 1983 not available) | |
| 1987 | 2,970 |
| 1989 | 10,265 |
| 1990 | 2,773 |
| 1991 | 263 |
| 1992 | 5,336 |
| 1993 | 57,535 |
| 1994 | 273,549 |
| 1995 | 85,859 |
| 1996 | 419,893 |
Mr. W. J. Duff
Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on each investigation since 25 August 1986 into the claims for treatment made by Mr. W. J. Duff. [19050]
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton
[holding answer 12 March 1997]: Mr. Duff has been the subject of checks under random sampling arrangements and more systematic monitoring. As a result of such monitoring, Mr. Duff was referred to a service committee in December 1990 in respect of one patient. Mr. Duff was found not to be in breach of his terms. He was referred in January
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1994 to the NHS tribunal and then to the General Dental Council. Subsequently, his name was removed from the dental list of Greater Glasgow health board, he was excluded from practising in the NHS and his name was removed from the council's register.
Mr. Salmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on what date his Department first received a copy of (a) the draft report on slaughterhouse hygiene written by Mr. Swann, and (b) the final report issued by the Meat Hygiene Service; what was the grade of the civil servants who assessed each report; and what reports of their contents were made to Ministers, and on what dates. [20125]
Mr. Michael Forsyth
[holding answer 13 March 1997]: My Department received the report written by Mr. Swann on the afternoon of 6 March 1997 and the final report issued by the Meat Hygiene Service earlier that day. I discussed the contents with officials on 6 and 7 March.
Mr. Salmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland with which external bodies the Scottish Office consulted on the draft report on slaughterhouse hygiene written by Mr. Swann; and to which such bodies it made the report available. [20124]
Mr. Forsyth
[holding answer 13 March 1997]: The report which was received by my Department on 6 March 1997 has been made available to the Pennington Group, which is considering its contents in finalising its report on E. coli.
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