To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement in respect of his response to the recommendations of the committee on privacy and related matters so far as they affect Scotland.

In his statement on 21 June, at columns 1123–24, my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary expressed the Government's warm welcome for the general approach taken in the report of the committee. The committee concluded that existing civil law remedies against press intrusion offences were adequate in Scotland, and it endorsed the Scottish position on the identification of victims of crime. The committee noted that some of the most serious forms of press intrusion might be subject to criminal proceedings under Scots common law. As recommended by the committee, we shall consider whether any extension of the law of Scotland is required in respect of the three new criminal offences proposed by them.