173.This section amends subsection (4) of section 257 of the 1995 Act and provides that the duty provided under subsection (1) (to seek and secure agreement of evidence capable of being agreed in advance of the trial) is extended to all proceedings on indictment. Currently that subsection relates only to proceedings in the High Court It also provides a deadline by which the duty is to be complied with (before the preliminary hearing in High Court cases and before the first diet in sheriff court cases).