asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will introduce an examination in spoken English in the leaving certificate in Scotland.

I am certainly anxious to secure a high standard of spoken English in the schools, but I do not think it would be practicable to try to test this in the examination for the Scottish Certificate of Education.

Will the right hon. Gentleman pay due respect to what are sometimes contemptuously called dialects, Whether they be spoken in Scotland, Ireland, the West Country or elsewhere, and ensure that they are properly dealt with?

Speaking personally, I should greatly regret the disappearance of dialects such as those to which the hon. and learned Gentleman has referred.