More people than ever are happy with the services they receive when visiting Scottish courts.

A survey carried out by MVA Consultancy shows that 83% of respondents were satisfied overall, the highest ever recorded level, and up from 81% in 2009.

Levels were similar for professional and non-professional users, with 85% of professional respondents, and 82% of non-professionals, stating that they were either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ satisfied overall.

Since the last survey in 2009, those questioned were more satisfied with the quality of refreshments available and the comfort and cleanliness of both court rooms and waiting areas. A high 96% found Scottish Court Service (SCS) staff polite, while 95% found SCS staff helpful.

For the first time security was covered showing that most users felt safe inside Scottish court buildings, ranging from 80% of those who had been in the cells to 96% of jury room users.

Scottish Court Service Chief Executive Eleanor Emberson welcomed the results, saying, "Achieving an 83% level of satisfaction among users is a credit to all our hard working and dedicated staff. The organisation is fully committed to a Customer Service Excellence programme as a way to develop our services to meet the needs of court users. We will use the constructive comments provided in the survey to continue this improvement."

Notes:

The Scottish Court Service has conducted satisfaction surveys with public and professional court users since 2005. Court users include all who enter or transact business within the court building and this includes for example solicitors, advocates, staff, social workers, police, jurors, witnesses, accused and members of the public including those involved in or interested in civil and criminal cases. The survey was conducted across all jurisdictions (Court of Session, High Court, Sheriff Courts and Justice of the Peace Courts).

Scottish Court Service User Satisfaction Survey 2011

Main Survey Findings (Summary)