Government plans to pile more work onto sheriff courts while planning a raft of closures will hit Scotland’s “quality of justice,” according to a Tayside solicitor.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has announced his plans to improve the efficiency of the country’s courts, which would see more civil cases go through local sheriff courts and a national personal injury sheriff court set up.
A new judicial post the summary sheriff would also be created to hear lower value civil cases and less complex criminal cases.
However, civil servants last night confirmed they could simply replace serving sheriffs rather than add extra expertise to deal with casework.
Eleven of Scotland’s sheriff courts including Cupar, Arbroath and Stonehaven are earmarked for closure, and Arbroath solicitor Nick Whelan said the combination of reforms would badly hit those the justice system is supposed to protect.
He said: “I didn’t see anything in the consultation looking at the impact on victims or witnesses, who might have to give evidence on something that happened a year and a half ago.
“This will certainly have an impact on the quality of justice being completed in court.”
The Government’s measures follow recommendations set out by Lord Gill in his Scottish Civil Courts Review.
Mr MacAskill said: “These reforms will help us ensure that the right cases are heard in the right places and therefore reduce unnecessary delays, cost and bureaucracy.
“The proposals will also mean that Scotland’s top civil judges will deal with Scotland’s most complex civil legal cases, with others being dealt with in local sheriff courts where they will still be subject to the same level of scrutiny as before and will be heard more quickly and efficiently, for the benefit of all.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said there would be no increased criminal caseload for sheriff courts.
However, Conservative chief whip John Lamont said the plans were “utterly shortsighted.”