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Bail

Volume 22: debated on Thursday 29 April 1982

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asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish in the Official Report any figures which are available relating to the monitoring of the working of the Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 relating to the percentage of persons arrested on summary court charges who were released on bail by the police.

A survey of the working of the Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980 in a sample of 28 police divisions, covering approximately 40 per cent. of the population, found that during the eight weeks before the Act came into effect 59 per cent. of persons arrested on summary court charges were released on bail by the police. In the following 12 months the figure was 69 per cent.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions in 1981 or during the latest convenient period for which figures are available money bail was granted in terms of section 1(3) of the Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980.

In the year following the implementation of the Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980, a survey covering approximately 45 per cent. of sheriff court cases recorded that 10,232 accused persons were released on bail, 176–1·7 per cent.—of whom were granted money bail. A further 65 persons were remanded, either having failed to find money bail or having refused the bail conditions, but a breakdown of this figure is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many prosecutions there were in 1981 or for the latest convenient period for breaches of bail conditions in terms of section 3 of the Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980.

The latest information available on prosecutions is for 1980, when there were proceedings against 36 persons in which the main charge recorded was breach of bail conditions under section 3 or the Bail Etc. (Scotland) Act 1980. The number of breaches proceeded against as subsidiary charges is not known.