Monday 1 February 1999

The Scottish Legal Aid Board today welcomed the Government's plans to introduce reforms of the civil and criminal legal aid systems which, it says, will offer improvements for the public, taxpayers and the legal profession.

Commenting on the announcement by Henry McLeish to introduce fixed fees for summary criminal legal aid and to commence Part V of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, Chairman Jean Couper said the Board was pleased that the Government had listened to its calls for these reforms to be implemented.

Jean Couper said, "We believe that fixed fees will achieve the Government's aim of reducing the criminal legal aid bill in Scotland and ensuring Scottish taxpayers receive value for money from the criminal legal aid system. The level of fixed fees announced will provide a fair level of remuneration for solicitors. Fixed fees will also be a workable, less complex system to administer and the Board is already well prepared to set up and administer an effective system for processing fixed fee accounts from 1 April.

" We will be working with the Law Society of Scotland and The Scottish Executive to ensure the system works effectively from the first day onwards and that the legal profession has all the information necessary for a smooth transition to fixed fees."

The Board also supports the Government's plans to improve the community legal services available to the public, by directly employed solicitors.

Chairman Jean Couper stated, "In its response to Access to Justice, the Board put forward a number of proposals for reform of the civil justice system. The Government's decision to allow the Board to employ solicitors in the community is a major first step in developing a system which better meets the needs of the people of Scotland.

" We are pleased to see that the Government has agreed with our proposal that money saved from the implementation of fixed fees for summary criminal legal aid should be directed back into improvements to the civil legal aid system. We will now be working with other interested parties in the civil justice system to implement pilot projects to test the effectiveness of publicly funded solicitors in different situations."

In 1997/98 legal aid payments in Scotland were £145.1 million, compared to £143.1 million the previous year. The Board collected £9 million in expenses, contributions and amounts recovered from assisted persons following the successful outcome of their cases which meant that the total cost to the taxpayer was £136.1 million (£133.7m).

For further information please contact: Charlotte Townsend at the Scottish Legal Aid Board on 0131 226 7061.