asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will approve for grant purposes the equipping of every police officer on duty with a personal radio which is effective in combating outbreaks of crime and violence.

My right hon. Friend has already approved schemes for eight police authorities and has given approval in principle for two others. These all provide limited numbers of sets. He will give sympathetic consideration to other similar applications, but it is doubtful whether the issue of personal radios to every man on duty would be justifiable.

Is my hon. Friend aware that demonstrations of this device have proved a very great success? Will he appreciate that it is much more than a Napoleon Solo gimmick? Will he consider granting police authorities these aids to enable police officers to combat rowdyism against which the devices have proved so successful?

I agree that this is rather more than a gimmick, but there are technical and operational problems which need to be solved and much more experience needs to be gained before we can determine exactly how far it can be used.

Can the Minister consider as an experiment in some part of the country where crime is particularly prevalent equipping all police officers with this equipment? That would yield better results than giving a few sets all round the country.

That is certainly worth considering. At present, there is one authority operating the personal wireless scheme, Glasgow, where the crime rate is fairly high. We shall have to wait and see what the results of the operation of the scheme are.