Concern Over Court Closure Plans

A review of next month's planned closure of more local courts has been demanded by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, amid claims the previous round of court shut-downs has resulted in a poorer service.

Statistics show the length of time taken to hear cases is increasing at courts which took on additional business following the closure of courts in Arbroath, Cupar and Stonehaven earlier this year, the party said.

The Lib Dems' justice spokeswoman, Alison McInnes MSP, made the claims after analysing figures obtained through parliamentary questions at Holyrood.

In November last year, courts in Annan, Cumbernauld, Irvine, Motherwell, Portree, Stornoway, Wick, Dornoch, Kirkcudbright and Rothesay were shut.

In May this year, court business was further transferred from Arbroath to Forfar, from Stonehaven to Aberdeen and from Cupar to Dundee.

Sheriff courts in Dingwall, Duns, Haddington and Peebles are set to shut their doors in January next year in a final round of closures.

Ms McInnes today renewed her criticism of what she termed the government-backed local court closure programme and further called on the Scottish Government to review the impact of the closures so far.

The Lib Dems' research shows that following the closure of Cupar Sheriff Court, the percentage of summary criminal cases completed within the six-month target at Dundee Sheriff Court was on average 77% between June and September this year.

This compares to 84% during the same period in 2013.

The average time taken to process a summary criminal case at Aberdeen Sheriff Court was 160 days on average between June and September 2014, up from 153 during the equivalent period in 2013.

During the same 2014 June-September period, the average time taken to process a summary criminal case at Forfar Sheriff Court was on average 88 days, up from 83 during the same time last year.

Ms McInnes said: The evidence Scottish Liberal Democrats have obtained shows that communities are receiving a poorer service as a direct result of the local court closure programme backed by the SNP government.

Solicitors, victims, witnesses, jurors and police officers are all having to travel further to get to court.

And these statistics show that the length of time it is taking to deal with their cases is rising and the 26-week target is missed more often.

In my own North East region, the length of time it is taking to hear cases at

Aberdeen Sheriff Court has increased by more than 25% following the closure of the neighbouring court in Stonehaven.

Recent court reform legislation means these courts will soon deal with more civil work, but these statistics suggest they are already under intense pressure with many running close to capacity. The Justice Committee also received evidence that this is being accompanied by cuts to staff budgets, rising numbers of court cases, and an increase in the number of serious and complex cases.

With more courts set to be abolished in January, these new statistics must cause the Scottish Government and Court Service to review the impact of the closures so far.''

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: Court closures are an operational matter for the Scottish Court Service.

However, 95% of court business is unaffected by recent changes to court structures and SCS has confirmed that they have capacity within courts to deal with current and anticipated cases.

There has been no reduction in judicial or court staff as a result of the court closures.

Justice agencies, working through the national Justice Board and local Criminal Justice Boards, monitor overall levels of demand across the justice system and take action, when necessary, to ensure that cases are processed efficiently and effectively.

As a result of this the Scottish Government has provided additional total funding of £1.47 million this year to the Scottish Court Service and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to assist with the efficient processing of summary cases.''