On Wednesday this week, the Lord President will announce the timetable for the implementation of the reforms which will provide the people of Scotland with a civil justice system that matches 21st century expectations and which, he said will “safeguard the integrity of Scots law by creating an efficient court structure. Every case will be heard by the appropriate court. The system will be accessible and cost effective for the litigant.”
In planning for these reforms, the Scottish Court Service (SCS) is moving to a new court structure that is accessible, efficient and cost effective. This week sees the final stage of court closures with the transfer of business from Dingwall, Duns, Haddington and Peebles. In coming years, as summary sheriffs are introduced, we will move progressively, over a 5 to 10 year period, to specialist jury centres for the more serious criminal business.
Eric McQueen, Chief Executive of the SCS said: “Our focus is on building a stronger court service which improves access to justice, reduces delays and costs, and maximises the use of technology to improve our services. We are now successfully delivering on that. The court closures have involved difficult decisions, but the status quo was not an option - we cannot make progress by avoiding change.
“While there were concerns expressed about potential difficulties including witness attendance, delays and the capacity of the courts to handle business, our courts are operating effectively and efficiently. In almost 90% of our sheriff courts, criminal trials are being set at, or close to, the 16 week target.
“We are now able to target investment to create a modern court structure throughout Scotland, with digital innovation at its heart. Over the last year we have made significant improvement to our courts in Aberdeen, Dundee, Forfar and Tain and are currently examining the feasibility of further justice centres.
“We are installing an ICT infrastructure that will provide both the speed and resilience that we require for evidence presentation, video links, case management systems and Wi-Fi access across our courts and have started development of the first of our new generation case management systems which enable civil business to be conducted digitally.”
Business Levels
Over the last year and a half the reporting and detection of crimes, particularly domestic abuse and sexual offences, has increased, reflecting proactive policing and prosecution and greater victim confidence to report crimes. These cases have not only increased in volume but are more complex cases often requiring more court time. The SCS has no doubt that the physical court capacity exists to deal effectively with this increased volume and complexity of business. Additional judiciary, court staff and fiscal staff have been deployed to use the court capacity available, ensuring that business is dealt with effectively by the courts.
While associations have been made with court closures, this simply muddies the water. As we confirmed to the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, the closures amount to less than 5% of overall court business and did not result in any reduction in judiciary or court staff. Moreover, the additional judicial, court and fiscal staff that are now being deployed to deal with the additional business volumes would have been required even if no court had closed.
Eric McQueen continued: “Court business is demand driven and when demand changes the Scottish Court Service must change its approach. With the new resources deployed we gave assurances in the autumn last year that in the majority of sheriff courts the period between a not guilty plea and availability of a trial diet would be at, or close to, the optimum period of 16 weeks as we moved into 2015. In April 2014 the percentage of sheriff courts setting criminal trials at, or close to, 16 weeks was 50%. At the end of December 2014, this figure is almost 90%.”
Notes for Editors
The Lord President will present the timetable for civil justice reform at a conference, Digital Justice: Modern, User Focused Civil and Administrative Justice to be held on Wednesday 28 January 2015 at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel.
The reforms set out in the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 include an increase to the privative limit of the sheriff court, the creation of new judicial offices of summary sheriff and appeal sheriff, the creation of a Sheriff Appeal Court, and the establishment of a specialist Personal injury Court.
For more information on court improvements see
http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/about-the-scottish-court-service/scs-news/2014/05/27/delivering-court-services-for-the-21st-century.