Scottish court service publishes court structures proposals
Issued by the Scottish Court Service
The Scottish Court Service has today published its report and recommendations on ‘Shaping Scotland’s Court Services’ following its consideration of responses received from public consultation.
Introducing the report, the Lord President, Lord Gill says: “This report summarises the consultation responses. It also makes recommendations for future court provision guided by ‘Principles for Provision of Access to Justice’, agreed with the Lord President, Lord Justice Clerk and Sheriffs Principal in February 2012. I am confident that the proposals in this Report will contribute significantly to the success of the forthcoming civil justice reforms.”
SCS Chief Executive Eric McQueen explains: “The Scottish legal system is about to embark on the most significant changes in well over a century. Civil and criminal justice will be reformed in the coming years following the recommendations arising from the reviews conducted by Lord Gill, Lord Carloway, Sheriff Principal Bowen and the current Victims and Witnesses Bill. These reviews are not simply about a redistribution of existing business, but have implications for how and where court services will be delivered in the future.
At the same time, public sector funding is under severe pressure. By 2015 the court service running cost budget will reduce by 20% in real terms and the capital budget will reduce from £20m to £4m. There needs to be changes in the way we operate and deliver our services. We have already made substantial savings by reducing staff numbers, reducing sitting court days and streamlining our corporate services, but continuing with these types of cuts simply reduces our ability to deliver a quality court service.
The recommendations we have made in this report include High Court cases being heard predominately in three dedicated centres, the closure of 10 sheriff courts, including nine co-located Justice of the Peace Courts, the closure of seven Justice of the Peace Courts and a move towards specialist jury centres over a longer 10 year period.
These recommendations may sound stark but they are proportionate. The volume of business transacted in the sheriff courts recommended for closure is around 5% of the overall court business.
Many of the responses to the consultation pointed to the extent of additional travel and inconvenience and we acknowledge this will be the case for some court users, while clarifying that the actual number of members of the public that this would affect is very small.
Similarly concerns were raised about the capacity for other courts to accommodate transferred business and we are confident that more than enough capacity exists to deal with current and future volumes of business. We make it clear that there would be no sense, and no benefit for us, simply to overload courts to a level that was unmanageable.
We believe that instead of investing in all our current buildings we must invest our energy and resources in making better use of technology including video links and online processes. Investment should be targeted to improve services and facilities for users in a smaller number of court buildings.”
Where we recommend court closures it will be for Scottish Ministers to consider and take statutory orders to the Scottish Parliament. The final decision on whether a court should close rests with the
Scottish Parliament. Our recommendations will be submitted to Scottish Ministers today.
Recommendations made in the report relating to the future sitting of the High Court and Sheriff and Jury Courts will be a matter for the Lord President and each Sheriff Principal.