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ERIC JOYCE, MP FOR FALKIRK, asks why families of dead Scottish service personnel are still having to go to England for inquests

‘Eric Joyce (MP for Falkirk) asks why the Scottish Nationalist administration continues to drag its heels over how to speed up inquests into the deaths of Scottish service personnel killed overseas.

In December the Justice Secretary, Kenny Macaskill MSP stated that he was keen to find a solution that would enable the investigations into the deaths of Scottish based service personnel to take place in Scotland. At Defence questions yesterday, Eric Joyce said that he was concerned at the lack of progress in resolving this matter so that the bereaved families no longer had to travel to England to attend inquests. Eric was aware that this was a source of concern to a number of families who had contacted him. He learnt in reply that the Department of Defence had first raised the matter with the Scottish Nationalist administration last summer and, after raising the issue on several other occasions, was still waiting for action from them.’

Eric adds that the recent co-operation between the Scottish Nationalist administration and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform shows that we can work together for the benefit of Scotland, yet there are so many other issues in which the Scottish Nationalist administration appears to wish to delay taking action because it means working with rather than against Westminster’