Court unification for Grampian Highland and Islands

23 Nov 2007 03:17 PM The Scottish Court Service (SCS) has announced its decision on court unification proposals for Grampian Highland and Islands (GH&I) to deliver efficient and integrated Justice of the Peace (JP) court services for the area.

Under reforms to the summary justice system, district courts, currently operated by local authorities, will become JP courts operated by the SCS. The establishment of a unified courts administration is intended to create an enhanced level of service and include the provision of modern technology to the new JP courts.

The implementation date set for court unification in GH&I is June 2, 2008. From that date, new JP courts will operate under SCS in Aberdeen, Banff, Dingwall, Dornoch, Elgin, Fort William, Inverness, Portree, Peterhead, Stonehaven, Stornoway, Tain and Wick. Business from Inverurie District Court will transfer to the new Aberdeen JP Court and business from Nairn District Court and Kingussie District Court will be heard in the new JP Court in Inverness.

Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service, Eleanor Emberson, said:

"I am pleased that from June next year, SCS will be providing support to the JP courts as well as Sheriff and High Courts in GH&I. We want to provide the best possible quality of facilities and support to all the courts.

"We had many consultation respondents who strongly opposed our proposals to close the district courts in Nairn, Kingussie and Inverurie. There were considerable local concerns expressed in relation to a loss of local justice. We had to weigh very carefully these real concerns against the fact that these courts sit only once or twice a month and that summary justice reforms will demand greater standards from our court facilities. The three key issues for us were efficiency and best value for the taxpayer, future volumes of business and ensuring high quality court accommodation.

"Some of the business currently handled by JPs will in future be dealt with through non court actions such as procurator fiscal fixed penalty notices ("fiscal fines"), fiscal compensation orders and police antisocial fixed penalty notices. After unification, some of the business currently handled in the Sheriff Court will be dealt with by the JP court. This means that some cases at the lower end of offending will no longer appear in the JP court, but cases of a more serious nature will. This puts considerable additional pressure on JP court buildings - for example, making it even more important to ensure that suitable custody and witness facilities are available and that there are secure access routes within buildings.

"We estimate that to bring these three courts to a suitable standard would cost at least £2.4 million. We have available capacity to hear this business in Inverness and Aberdeen and have concluded we cannot justify or afford this considerable expenditure given that these courts sit infrequently and that we have suitable court accommodation elsewhere.

"We do accept there will be some inconvenience as a result. We understand that there is a loss of a local service but we have taken account of travel distances and the availability of public transport in these areas. We are committed to ensuring that JPs in the new courts will continue to play a major role in the delivery of justice for their local areas. We will work closely with other local criminal justice agencies to achieve this and look at a number of issues such as the programming of court business. We also hope that the arrangements we develop and good working relationships will ensure that local media reporting continues to work effectively.

"We want our summary justice system to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible and unification offers a real opportunity for improvement."

SCS has met with The Highland Council, Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council respectively to explain their decision and discuss operational implementation next year. A number of council staff who serve the District courts will transfer to SCS on unification and liaison work with these staff is already underway to facilitate this.

The Scottish Court Service currently has responsibility for the administration of the Court of Session, High Court and Sheriff Courts. Following unification, which is undertaken on a Sheriffdom by Sheriffdom basis, they will assume responsibility for JP courts, currently run by local authorities. Lothian and Borders will be the first area to unify in April 2008.

The enabling legislation for court unification is contained in the Criminal Proceeding etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007. This Act was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament and received Royal Assent on February 22, 2007.

On July 6, 2007 a consultation document outlining the proposals for unification in the Grampian, Highland & Islands Sheriffdom was issued to over 1400 individuals and organisations/groups. 44 responses were received to the consultation paper.

The consultation period closed on September 30, 2007. Following the end of the consultation period, a report was prepared by the Scottish Court Service for consideration by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill and a copy of that report which contains SCS recommendations is available from the website.

Court Unification is one aspect of the Scottish Government's programme of summary justice reform, aimed at ensuring the justice system operates effectively in tackling the low-level crime which can blight communities. Summary justice can be defined as all non-jury criminal prosecutions, which accounts for over 90% of all cases that come to court each year in Scotland.

Other reforms include:

    * Changes in the law relating to summary criminal proceedings which will allow cases in court to be dealt with more quickly and effectively
    * Extending the range of "direct measures" (alternatives to prosecution) such as police fixed penalty notices and fiscal fines that can be offered to an alleged offender and improving the manner in which these measures can be enforced and disclosed - ensuring they are robust and can be used in circumstances where a court appearance may not be the most effective way of dealing with cases
    * Reform of the ways in which fines and other financial penalties imposed in respect of a criminal offence can be collected and enforced - in particular the creation of the new role of fines enforcement officer with new powers to ensure where possible payment is received - ensuring that penalties are collected as efficiently and effectively as possible in future, minimising unnecessary court involvement;
    * Reform of the procedures by which justices of the peace (JPs) are appointed, trained and appraised, fulfilling the commitment to retain and invest in JPs to ensure that they provide consistently high standards of justice; and
    * Reforms to the framework within which courts make bail and remand decisions which will toughen the sanctions available for those who breach bail and improve the transparency and consistency of bail decisions.

Related Information

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/