Tuesday 10 October 2000

The Scottish Legal Aid Board welcomed today's announcement by Jim Wallace, Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice, to establish a working group to help develop a community legal service in Scotland.

The Minister was speaking at an event in Edinburgh to mark the 50th anniversary of the legal aid system in Scotland.

Chairman Jean Couper said, "The Minister's proposals present a huge challenge for us all but also an exciting opportunity to build upon the strengths and variety of present provision to meet tomorrow's needs through new partnerships, new services and utilising tomorrow's facilities and technologies. We at the Board will be delighted to play our full part, in conjunction with others, in developing and testing a range of provision of information services and legal advice and assistance."

The working group announced by the Minister will provisionally include representatives from the Scottish Legal Aid Board, the Law Society of Scotland, CoSLA, Citizens Advice Scotland, Scottish Consumer Council and the Scottish Association of Law Centres. The working group is to report to the Minister within a year with proposals for how a community legal service can be established.

Mrs Couper said, "The Board endorses the Minister's statement about the valuable work being done by a wide range of bodies already providing advice, legal services and representation and his objective of stimulating local partnerships. We want to harness this experience and knowledge in conducting a number of pilot schemes relating to community legal services, as the Minister mentioned earlier today."

The Board will issue invitations to organisations to submit proposals for these pilot projects relating to community legal services for civil matters. Invitations will be issued shortly, with a view to the first pilot project beginning in the early part of 2001.

The Board is expanding its policy and research function to help us and the Government develop future legal aid policy and best practice.

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

The Scottish Legal Aid Board is a non-departmental public body which assesses legal aid applications and scrutinises and pays accounts submitted by solicitors and advocates. It also provides advice to the Scottish Ministers on legal aid matters.

In 1999/2000, the cost of legal aid in Scotland was £130 million. The Board collected almost £10 million in contributions, expenses and amounts recovered from assisted persons following the successful outcome of their cases.