During 2004-2005, we made substantial progress against the objectives for the second year of our three-year planning period.
Performance against increased targets
We met all of our headline performance indicators, the key measures of the Board’s operational performance. These targets, which balance quality of decision making with speed of processing, were once again higher than in the previous year.
Civil legal assistance
Quality assurance for civil legal assistance
Working in partnership with the Law Society of Scotland, we introduced a registration and quality assurance scheme for legal firms providing civil legal assistance.
Civil advice and assistance reform
We worked with the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Executive to develop proposals to improve the civil advice and assistance system. The Scottish Executive issued a consultation paper and the first changes were introduced in April 2005.
Criminal legal assistance
Review of criminal legal assistance
We published in May 2004 a consultation on our proposals for reform of summary criminal legal assistance. We received responses from a wide range of individuals and bodies in the justice system and other organisations. We submitted a review of the outcome of the consultation to the Scottish Executive.
High Court reform
Important reforms were introduced in the High Court from April 2005. Throughout the year, we worked closely with colleagues in the Scottish Executive and other criminal justice agencies to ensure readiness for the reforms implementation. We also reviewed our approach and guidance in criminal cases for dealing with applications for the use of counsel when Sheriff’s sentencing powers were increased to three years in May 2004.
Fees reform
We worked with the Faculty of Advocates and Scottish Executive to develop new feeing arrangements for advocates in criminal cases. These were introduced in March 2005 and will bring greater certainty, control and value for money in legal aid costs, as well as accommodating High Court reform. In 2005-2006 we will review the operation of the new fees.
Public Defence Solicitors’ Office (PDSO)
We opened Public Defence Solicitors’ Offices in Inverness and Glasgow.
Developing publicly funded legal assistance
Strategic Review of Legal Aid, Advice and Information
The review was carried out by the Scottish Executive with support from the Board. The report was submitted to Ministers and the Board in June 2004, and published in October 2004.
Getting improved value from legal aid
We worked closely with the Scottish Executive to identify and introduce a series of regulation changes designed to improve the operation of the legal aid system, to give fair reward for legal aid providers and ensure maximum value for money.
Legal Aid Online
We piloted successfully our online system for advice and assistance. We are now well placed to meet our target of making all of our services available online by the end of 2005.
Reducing bureaucracy
We continued to reduce bureaucracy in legal aid administration. We introduced 20 more advice and assistance increase templates, which simplify the process for solicitors seeking requests for increases in authorised expenditure.
Improving our service for clients
We aim to provide a high standard of service to all our customers. We improved further the information available to applicants for legal aid including the publication of a new leaflet and online calculator to help people work out whether they qualify financially for legal aid.
