Chapter Three: How We Performed
The Supreme Courts
Workload in the Supreme Courts rose for the fourth year in succession, showing an increase of 4% since 1995/96.
A range of factors has affected the outturn relative to the waiting period targets in the Supreme Courts. These include an increase in business volume overall especially in first instance cases and an increase in the complexity of cases. There has been a consequent pressure on judicial resources. Some of the steps taken to improve the situation include new criminal appeal procedures. This has significantly improved the disposal rate for this type of business from 33% to over 90% at first sitting.
The number of sitting days in the High Court rose by 107 (3%) to 3,517 days, although the number of cases registered fell by 1%.
The Court of Session continues to deal with the greater proportion of new business which increased by 1% to 5,741 cases, while sitting days fell by 7% to 1,851 days reflecting the demands of the High Court for judicial time.
There were 5,368 sitting days recorded in the Supreme Court this year, a fall of less than 1% on last year, but an overall increase of 22% since 1995/96.
Leaflets & Publications