asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has completed his investigations into the extent and nature of the practice by Scottish courts of remanding persons in custody before trial; and if he will make a statement.

The investigation is nearly completed. I am proposing to include the main information obtained in the annual Prisons Report which should be ready for publication by the end of July.

May I remind the right hon. Gentleman that it was in February that he told us that this investigation was to take place? Will he bear in mind that at the end of July there will be no opportunity to comment on what is said in the Report? Will he ensure that we have the Report early in July, and not at the end of the month, so that we may have some chance of saying something about it in the House?

I will try to give the hon. Member the information as soon as it is available. But, as he knows, the detailed analysis of a great many cases is a fairly slow operation.

Is the Minister aware—he said it himself—that they were taking a selection of cases, only a sample of cases, extending over two months in order that this matter might be examined in some detail thoroughly and quickly? Surely this is something which ought to have been done long before now?

I think that it has been done as quickly as has been possible.