Hansard

I am speaking in this debate as a member of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, and I thank everyone who contributed to the inquiry, including the clerks.

The committee agreed to focus on two things in its inquiry—first, what is working and what is not working in the current civil legal aid system; and, secondly, what changes could be made in the short and longer terms to address access issues. I am sure that we could all have long discussions on those issues, but this is only a four-minute speech, so I will try to keep to the main points.

Let us remember that Scotland’s legal aid system is still one of the leading jurisdictions in Europe in terms of scope, eligibility and cost. However, the public rightly expect that publicly funded services will be responsive, user centred and accountable and that they will work effectively. The committee heard that in the evidence that we took. The Scottish Government recognises the need for further reform to ensure that Scotland has a modern and responsive system that provides services as efficiently as possible where and when they are needed. We heard about that from the minister and other speakers in the debate.

Although the Scottish Government’s launch of a legal aid discussion paper was welcome, the committee is disappointed that legislation to give effect to reform has not been introduced in the current session of Parliament. The committee recognises that, at this juncture in the session, such legislation will now not be introduced. Later in my speech, I will touch on what needs to be done before the end of the session. However, in the next session, Parliament must make legislating to reform civil legal assistance an immediate priority, and I am sure that the equalities committee will take that forward. There is a need for long-term structural reform of the current system. In the meantime, the Scottish Government should be taking all the steps that it can take, short of primary legislation, to ameliorate the situation.

The committee is concerned about access to legal aid in Scotland. As we have heard this afternoon, there are lots of issues, particularly in relation to domestic abuse. I have had such issues in my constituency, as I am sure other members have, and we need to take them up as soon as possible. In seeking to respond to the issues, it is critical that there is a better understanding of the extent of unmet need. We heard from various sectors about that, and various speakers have mentioned it today. We really need to get to the bottom of that, because any response to the issue must begin with a proper assessment of the levels of not just geographic need, but issue-related need as well. To that end, the committee encourages SLAB and the Law Society of Scotland to work together to develop a better evidence base on demand for and supply of legal aid-funded legal services.

The committee has significant concerns about the current administrative processes and the damaging effects that they are having on relationships between legal practitioners and SLAB and on the capacity to undertake trauma-informed approaches. The committee calls on the Scottish Government and SLAB to take action to address those concerns. The committee recognises that the current processes exist within a legal framework and that, in some cases, changes cannot be made immediately. However, the committee considers that removing administrative burdens could not only address some of the challenges in the system but result in financial savings for SLAB and the legal profession while also improving the experience of those who engage with the civil legal assistance system. As the committee notes at the beginning of the report, there is an urgent need for action to improve the delivery of civil legal assistance and, in turn, access to justice.

It is disappointing that legislation has not been introduced in the current session to reform the civil legal assistance system. We heard from the minister about the action that has been taken in the meantime. However, there has been an awareness of the need for reform since the current session began. It is really important that the matter is picked up and worked on immediately in the next session. The committee recognises that it is now too late to introduce such primary legislation in the current session. Although the committee recognises that some changes can be made only by way of primary legislation, we urge the Scottish Government to make whatever changes it can make in the interim to effect an improvement in access to justice.

The committee report stated:

“The Scottish Government must work with SLAB now to progress reforms not requiring primary legislation. Specifically, in the short-term, the Scottish Government must ... Proceed with reforms to increase fees paid to legal practitioners; ... Find more opportunities for traineeships to increase capacity”—

we have heard about issues around that—and

“Consider proposals to reduce administrative burdens and bureaucracy, thereby improving relations between SLAB and legal practitioners and creating an environment in which trauma informed approaches can thrive”.

I mentioned domestic abuse.

In the longer term, the committee welcomed

“the emphasis being placed on mixed models of delivery and user voice by the Scottish Government”

and asked that

“the Scottish Government consider preventative approaches and public legal education”

as part of its discussion on longer-term measures.