Official Report 254KB pdf
I remind members that we appointed Duncan Hamilton as a reporter to consider the Crown Office consultation document on the appointment and the role of advocate deputes. It was agreed that he would report to the committee by 20 November, but that was a short time scale and he has requested that we extend the deadline to 4 December. Is that agreed?
Members indicated agreement.
Would Duncan Hamilton like to say a few words about his progress on the report?
Yes. I assure the committee that the cause of the delay is not the usual heady cocktail of Hamilton laziness and inefficiency. The cause is that we are still trying to obtain written evidence from one of the key players, so that I can talk to them face to face. Yesterday, I spoke to the clerk to the Faculty of Advocates, who said that its report had been submitted and that he was happy to discuss elements of that. Rather than make a synopsis of them, I wanted to use the written submissions as a basis for face-to-face interviews, which is why we must obtain the written evidence from the Procurators Fiscal Society, which was a key player in our initial discussions.