The Justice Minister's announcement today (20 October) that two further Public Defence Solicitors' Offices (PDSOs) will open in Glasgow and Inverness was welcomed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. The Board had provided Ministers with advice on possible locations for the new offices.

Jean Couper, Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board said:
"I welcome the decision to open a new PDSO in Glasgow and another in Inverness and to remove the geographic restrictions on the operation of the Edinburgh office. We are pleased to set up these two further offices in areas which bring different opportunities to consider the future use of public defenders in Scotland."

"Glasgow is the busiest court in Scotland with a diverse advice and community environment, which could allow a more holistic approach to criminal defence work to be explored. The office in Inverness will also serve the surrounding rural areas and courts. This PDSO will enable lessons to be learned about the challenges of practice in a rural area."

"The Board will work in partnership and co-operation with those involved in the justice system in these areas to establish the new offices. We will consult with the local solicitors' faculties in developing our plans for the new offices and aim to develop constructive relationships between them and the PDSO, just as we have in Edinburgh. We will work with the Scottish Executive to plan the opening of the new offices and aim to have them operating by 30 June 2004."

Following the passing of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the Scottish Executive asked the Board to conduct an analysis of potential locations of additional public defence solicitors' offices, as allowed for in the Act. In assessing possible locations, the Board took into account Ministers' views (set out in the policy memorandum to the (then) Criminal Justice Bill) that additional PDSOs "would provide an opportunity for increasing the workload without severely affecting local businesses; and would enable us to examine whether a public defence service would make sense in a rural setting". The Board assessed several locations, including two rural areas, taking into account the local legal markets, using information on volumes of business, numbers of firms and operation of duty plans.

The first Public Defence Solicitors' Office (PDSO) in the UK opened in 1998 in Edinburgh as a five year pilot to compare the provision of criminal legal aid by private solicitors with salaried solicitors employed by the Board. The legislation that set up the PDSO required that Scottish Ministers had to publish a report into the operation of the PDSO within 3 years. A substantial and detailed research report was published in 2001 raising issues for the PDSO, private solicitors and the wider justice community. It was considered that the pilot had been worthwhile and had generated a lot of useful information on how the criminal legal aid system was working. Ministers announced their intention to continue the PDSO Edinburgh office and to create up to two more offices in different offices when the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament in March 2002.

In 2002/2003 the Edinburgh PDSO dealt with 1,123 cases and acted as duty solicitor on behalf of other solicitors in a further 415 cases. The cost of the PDSO was £319,000.

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Journalists please contact: Colin Sim direct tel 0131 240 2033.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The Scottish Legal Aid Board was responsible for setting up the PDSO and the Director of the PDSO reports to the Board on administrative issues. In all other ways, the PDSO operates entirely independently. The Board assesses applications for summary criminal legal aid from the PDSO in the same way that it does for applications submitted by private solicitors.

2. Legal aid allows people who would not otherwise be able to afford it to get help for their legal problems. Legal aid and advice and assistance can only be accessed through a solicitor.

3. The Scottish Legal Aid Board was set up in 1987 to manage legal aid in Scotland. The Board employs around 330 full-time staff. Twelve Board members, appointed by Scottish Ministers, oversee the work.

The Board's mission is to promote the development and delivery of appropriate access to quality legal assistance for those eligible, in a cost-effective manner.

The work of the Board includes:
* advising Scottish Ministers on the current operation and development of legal aid provision
* managing the Legal Aid Fund
* investigating different ways of delivering a legal aid service, for example, by running pilot schemes
* developing operational plans and policies and procedures, including e-business, to improve the delivery and administration of legal aid
* assessing applications for legal aid
* examining solicitors' and advocates' accounts for legal aid work, and paying them for the work they have done
* collecting, for civil legal aid, contributions, expenses, and money won or kept as a result of civil legal aid or advice and assistance
* registering firms and solicitors under the Board's Code of Practice in relation to criminal legal assistance and monitor their ongoing compliance
* investigating and pursuing abuse of legal aid.

4. The Board has two linked websites: www.slab.org.uk and for the profession, www.slabpro.org.uk

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