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STATEMENT: EBA and the Police Station Duty Scheme

Friday, Dec 14, 2012

The Board has issued a comment in response to a letter sent by Cameron Tait, President of the Edinburgh Bar Association.
 
Iain Robertson, Chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, said:
“The letter is astonishing and makes inaccurate and misleading statements. For example it states: ‘As a matter of fact, SLAB have already begun to deduct contributions from summary criminal cases, before parliament has legislated on the Bill, an approach which bespeaks a breathtaking contempt for the parliamentary process itself’. This is wholly inaccurate. The Board has not and would never pre-empt the parliamentary process. We believe the Edinburgh Bar Association may have confused this with the arrangements which have been in place since 2008 under Summary Justice Reform for deduction of contributions in Advice and Assistance and ABWOR.
 
“In complete contradiction of what Mr Tait says, SLAB does value the work legal aid solicitors do, including those doing criminal work. We say this in various documents and we mean it. It has always been SLAB’s position that legal aid is best provided by a mixture of private practice and employed solicitors with the large majority being provided by private practice.
 
“Decisions on the extent of the Public Defender service have been made by the Scottish Government and before that the Scottish Executive. The Board does not determine these matters.
 
“We will provide police station duty scheme cover for the Edinburgh Sheriff Court area from January. We are aware that firms will undertake this work and we will make other solicitors available.
 
“It is ludicrous for the EBA to suggest that ‘SLAB is now directing Government policy’. Our statutory roles include advising Ministers on legal aid. We do this. The Board’s statutory roles have always been wider than just paying solicitors. We are surprised the EBA is unaware of this.
 
“The pressures on public funding including legal aid are very challenging for all. It is very disappointing that the EBA has chosen to act in this way, which appears to risk damage to the justice system and their clients.”
Ends


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