Monday 18 December 2000

Major improvements to the Scottish Legal Aid Board's information systems and communications will be made possible through a grant of £750,000 from the Modernising Government Fund. The Board gave an enthusiastic welcome to the announcement of the grant by Angus Mackay, Minister for Finance and Local Government, today.

The grant will form part of a project costing around £2 million to allow the Board to conduct much of its business by "e-commerce". Solicitors will be able to submit applications for legal aid for their clients by e-mail, and will also be able to send the Board their accounts at the end of a case in the same way. This will mean that the process of applying for legal aid should become simpler and quicker. Less paperwork will mean that the scope for errors, and the storage and tracking problems associated with the 13 million documents currently received in a year by the Board will be greatly reduced.

In addition to the benefits for legal aid applicants and solicitors, the introduction of e-commerce should allow the Board to identify and analyse trends in legal aid, reduce administration costs and increase efficiency, producing savings for the taxpayer.

The Board's Chairman, Mrs Jean Couper, said today

"The Board is constantly looking for ways to improve its service to the public and the legal profession. This Modernising Government grant will help provide a more effective and efficient legal aid service in Scotland. Applicants for legal aid, opponents in civil cases, the legal profession and members of the general public will benefit from increased accessibility to information, faster processing and better value for money.

We are delighted to secure this funding, and we look forward to working closely with the Scottish Executive to meet the government's targets for 100% of our services to be available electronically by 2005."

Notes to editors

For further information 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.