Ensuring Effective Access to Appropriate and Affordable Dispute Resolution Processes: Consumer Focus Scotland’s consultation and seminar

Consumer Focus Scotland is seeking views on practical solutions to ensure that individuals who find themselves having to use the civil justice system have real and effective access to appropriate, affordable and fair dispute resolution processes, particularly for claims of low financial value, housing cases, family cases and children’s hearing referrals.

Following the publication of Lord Gill’s civil courts review report, Consumer Focus Scotland has reconvened its Civil Justice Advisory Group, under the continued chairmanship of the Right Honourable Lord Coulsfield. The Group’s deliberations will focus principally on those aspects of the review of most direct relevance for consumers, namely those recommendations relating to pre-court measures, including improving access to justice for party litigants, the proposed 'third -tier' of judicial office, and new simplified procedure.

Consumer Focus Scotland is keen to ensure as wide a range of interested parties respond as possible.

To inform its work, the Civil Justice Advisory Group has launched the attached consultation paper, which aims to debate some of the key proposals of the Gill review report and determine the best way forward. The consultation process will run until 24th September 2010.

To support the consultation process, the Civil Justice Advisory Group will also host a free consultation seminar on Monday 13th September at the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh. This full-day event will be interactive, with roundtable discussions and feedback sessions. Professor Dame Hazel Genn, Dean of Laws and Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at University College London will be the keynote speaker.

The draft programme for the seminar is attached, together with a booking form or book online. Attendance at the seminar is free, but places are limited, and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.