Latest news on reform of summary criminal legal assistance
8 April 2008 - Cabinet Secretary for Justice publishes final proposals for reform following discussion with profession - read the Government news release
Archive
Update - March 2008 - Revised proposals for reform
Details of revised proposals for the reform of summary criminal legal assistance, with the Scottish Government’s preferred option, have now been released by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny McAskill, MSP. These revised proposals follow the very constructive negotiation meetings held between representatives of the Law Society and local faculties, and officials from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. These discussions, along with the feedback from the original consultation process, and the regional roadshows have led to some significant revisions to the original legal aid proposals, including the introduction of a single case disposal fee in the Sheriff Court.
Details of these revised proposals have now been issued to the Law Society of Scotland by the Cabinet Secretary. The Law Society’s Summary Reform Working Party recognised that the revised proposals constitute a significant improvement on the original consultation paper. They have issued details of the revised proposals to all Deans and Secretaries of the local Faculties, inviting comments on the new proposals.
Whilst the issuing of these revised proposals now marks the end of the consultation process, the Cabinet Secretary has invited the profession’s representatives to a further meeting in late March to discuss the revised proposals, and any feedback received on them. This should allow the substantial regulatory changes to be put in place, as well as the redevelopment of the Board’s IT systems, procedures, and application forms for implementation of the new changes in June 2008.
The Cabinet Secretary has stressed that there is now considerable pressure to move quickly to implement the revised legal aid arrangements, not least because without these changes, payments to solicitors are likely to reduce substantially given the planned reductions in the volume of cases to be taken to court, and the pushing down of cases from the Sheriff Court to the JP Court. These changes alone will see a dramatic reduction on the overall fees paid to solicitors for summary criminal business.
The original consultation paper with proposals for the reform of summary criminal legal assistance was issued on 1 October 2007, with a closing date for responses of 24 December 2007. The Cabinet Secretary had agreed an extension to the consultation period beyond 24 December 2007 to mid February 2008 to allow further discussion on possible changes to the legal aid proposals. However, such changes would only be considered where they supported the summary justice reform system model, were affordable in the very tight financial constraints that are faced, and were achievable through secondary legislation. This allowed a number of alternative proposals to be considered, and discussed with the representatives from the profession. These discussions, along with the feedback from the consultation responses have led to the significant revisions to the proposals as shown in the attached papers.
February 2008 - Please note that the consultation period has now ended. Further information on the reform proposals and consultation responses will be available shortly.
21 December 2007 - Reform of summary criminal legal assistance – consultation period - this mailing to all criminal solicitors advises about the extension of the current consultation period to 31 January 2008 and provides further information about issues raised by solicitors including during the recent consultation seminars. Read:
16th November - Further information for faculties - on costing work carried out in relation to the proposals in the Reform of Summary Criminal Legal Assistance Consultation Paper. Read the:
* Board’s letter to the faculties.
* letter to the Glasgow Bar Association from the Criminal Procedure Division
* note on the range of costings.
Reform of summary criminal legal assistance - consultation paper and events
1 October 2007
The Scottish Government and Scottish Legal Aid Board have issued a consultation paper about proposed reforms of summary criminal legal assistance. The closing date for written comments is Monday 24 December 2007 - date now changed - see letter issued 21 December.
Read:
Other useful reference information published by the Scottish Government:
- Summary Justice Reform System Model
Summary Justice System Model paper, describing how summary justice cases will be dealt with in Scotland. Available in in pdf format or web page format
Information seminars
To help inform you about the consultation proposals, the Scottish Government, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Board held a series of information seminars in October and November. Although these seminars are now complete, you can view the seminar presentation from the Glasgow event as a pdf to allow you to print out handouts of the slides. |
