Arbroath Sheriff Court staff are set to keep their jobs even if the town’s court is axed.
That was the assurance given by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill after local MSP Graeme Dey raised the issue in Holyrood following last week’s Scottish Court Service announcement which included the Angus town in the biggest service shake-up for more than a century.
Arbroath along with courts in Cupar and Stonehaven is among 11 across Scotland earmarked for closure in an SCS document which is now the focus of a three-month public consultation exercise.
Alloa, Dingwall, Dornoch, Duns, Haddington, Kirkcudbright, Peebles and Rothesay are also on the possible list of targets.
The radical blueprint would also see changes to the High Court set-up, with Inverness sittings dropped and dedicated centres established in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Justice of the Peace courts provision is also set to be altered.
Earlier this year the release of an SCS discussion document had appeared to place a question mark over the future of Forfar Sheriff Court, a prospect which was met with stiff opposition from the Angus legal profession and others involved in the justice service.
Confirmation that it is now Arbroath which is earmarked for closure with the first changes due to come into place nationwide as early as next year has switched attention across the district and moves are already under way to build the town’s case for retention.
Arbroath court business is set to transfer to Forfar and the issue of what would happen to the eight town posts in the event of closure was raised by Mr Dey in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.
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Mr MacAskill indicated that the jobs would, along with the work carried out in Arbroath, transfer to the neighbouring town.
Mr Dey said: ”Ideally we of course want to see court services retained at both Angus locations. However, we are not living in an ideal world and the Scottish Court Service is looking both to reshape the delivery of justice and cope with budget cuts which have followed on from the Scottish Government’s budget being cut by Westminster.
”I was pleased to hear from Kenny MacAskill that should Arbroath close then the jobs will follow the work. That is not to say that we are necessarily accepting closure as being inevitable, and along with my fellow local SNP parliamentarians I’ll be meeting representatives of the legal profession and court staff on Friday of this week to discuss the situation. However, if closure does happen then we must look to minimise the impact on employment and the Angus economy and whilst court employees would potentially face a journey to work in future, better that than jobs being lost.”
In unveiling the consultation proposals at the end of last week, SCS executive director Eric McQueen said the plans were aimed at modernising a set-up which included many Victorian buildings which are expensive to run and difficult to modernise.
”The status quo is not an option,” the SCS chief said.
Dean of the Faculty in Angus, Brechin solicitor Steve Middleton has said the body’s response will be to press the case for retention of both courts.
The proposals were also immediately condemned last week by the Law Society in Scotland, which said it did not believe that greater efficiency would result from the planned changes.
Law Society Scotland president Austin Lafferty said: ”Public spending is under increasing pressure and we fully understand the need for the court service, like all parts of the public sector, to reduce operating costs and save money. However we don’t believe that the measures proposed will necessarily achieve that and could well lead to a long term decline in access to our justice system.”