Our 2005-2006 Annual Report tells you about our work, and the changes and improvements we are making. It reports on the legal aid facts and figures as well as telling you how we performed in 2005-2006.
Read our Chief Executive's report on the year below, or download our Annual Report in pdf format or email us to request a printed copy.
Chief Executive's report
2005-2006 was another very challenging year in which we performed well. Here are some key facts and information on the important projects on which we made substantial progress.
The year was characterised by very large amounts of development work in legal aid. We work in partnership with the Scottish Executive, the legal profession and our justice system partners. Many developments owe much to their co-operation.
Performance against increased targets
We met or exceeded five of our six headline performance indicators, the key measures of the Board’s operational performance. Our targets balance quality of decision making with speed of processing. Three of our six headline targets, and seven individual targets were increased for 2005-2006.
Efficient Government savings
The Efficient Government savings for legal aid operate in the context of modernising legal aid to ensure the delivery of an efficient and effective operation of the system.
We helped the Scottish Executive exceed its Efficient Government legal aid savings target for 2005-2006 with savings of £5.7 million. The savings have been achieved as a result of the implementation of a package of legislative and regulatory changes as well as structural changes to the operation of the justice system.
Legal Aid Online
We launched Advice and Assistance Online to over 100 firms, following the successful pilot phase. Last year over 7,000 advice and assistance applications were made online. We made further improvements to the system following feedback from solicitors. We started piloting our Civil Legal Aid Online system with interested firms and began work on developing our criminal online system.
Telephone helpline
We developed and launched a new telephone information service for the public. The service provides information on legal aid, how to find a solicitor and how to work out if someone is are eligible for legal aid. Our Legal Aid Helpline is 0845 122 8686 and runs seven days a week, 7am to 11pm.
Lloyds TSB Scottish Employer of the Year Award
We won the Lloyds TSB Scottish Employer of the Year Award. This recognises our innovative approach to flexible working, which enables us to provide better working arrangements for staff while improving the service we provide.
Different ways of providing advice - Part V pilot projects
We published an independent evaluation of the first phase of projects in which the Board employs solicitors to work alongside advice agencies. We worked with partner agencies to develop five new projects for a second phase.
Legal Aid Bill
The Board responded to the Scottish Executive’s consultation and worked with the Executive to take forward Ministers’ priorities. This led to the introduction of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid ( Scotland) Bill in March 2006 which proposes changes to the delivery of legal aid.
Research into public knowledge of legal aid
We published a report on the public’s awareness of legal aid. Over three in five recognised the legal aid logo.
Reform of counsel’s fees
To help support the reform of the High Court and to bring greater certainty and value for money in legal aid cases, we worked closely with the Faculty of Advocates and the Scottish Executive to introduce new fee tables in April 2005 for counsel in criminal cases. We monitored the introduction of the new fee arrangements and, with the Scottish Executive and the Faculty of Advocates, we developed minor changes to the tables for criminal cases and criminal appeal cases. We continue to review the operation of the new system and expect further changes to be made in 2007. Progress has been made in the development of tables of fees in civil cases. This work continues.
Reform of the criminal justice process
Following publication of the McInnes Summary Justice Review and the Scottish Executive’s consultation on Summary Justice Reform, we worked closely with the Scottish Executive and other organisations to develop the changes to the summary justice procedure and the associated changes to summary criminal legal assistance which build on the proposals in the Board’s consultation on the reform of summary legal aid. This work continues in 2007.
With the Scottish Executive and the Law Society of Scotland, we have been developing a new block fee payment structure for solicitors in solemn legal aid cases. We have been conducting a costing exercise to inform Ministers’ decisions on the rates that solicitors should be paid in the new structure. This had to take account of the new court procedures introduced in solemn cases in 2005-2006.
Depending on negotiations between the Scottish Executive and the Law Society of Scotland, the new feeing arrangements are expected to be introduced in 2007. A quality assurance scheme for criminal legal aid solicitors and counsel will also be introduced.
Reform of civil legal assistance
We continued to develop changes to the civil advice and assistance process, in consultation with our stakeholders. The first phase of the reform – an increase in solicitors’ fees, was introduced in April 2005. The second phase to restructure the process will be implemented in 2007. In civil legal aid, we identified changes to be made to the block fee structure and Ministers have agreed to these in principle. We carried out a survey of civil legal assistance solicitors and revised civil legal aid forms following feedback from solicitors. We also launched a project to simplify the whole civil legal assistance process.
Civil legal aid computer system
We implemented an entirely new civil legal aid computer system and changed our processes to take advantage of document management technology. We now have a modern, efficient and largely paperless system which will help us to further improve the delivery of our services to our customers. These changes have helped us speed up the process for dealing with civil legal aid applications.
Delivering improved services
We initiated a project with other justice system agencies to help improve the operation of the justice system and minimise the risk of fraud and inefficiencies in legal aid.
Scottish legal assistance handbooks
We introduced new legal assistance handbooks to guide the profession and advisers through the legal aid system. These are available online and include our policies, guidance and legal aid legislation.
Equalities strategy
We reviewed our race equality scheme and consulted on our equality strategy.
Future developments - driving change
A lot of change has taken place. However, as an organisation, we cannot stand still. Further changes are still to occur in the wider justice system and we have a substantial contribution to make to those changes. We also want to further develop our performance and service delivery.
We are committed to working with the Scottish Executive and others to continue developing legal aid and to help provide greater opportunities for people to get access to more efficient, effective and quality assured legal aid services.
Our strategy for the next few years is set out in our Corporate Plan 2006-2009. We will report against what we achieved from our action plan and targets in our annual report next year.
Lindsay Montgomery
Chief Executive
Read more on the year in our Annual Report.