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CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
In the past year the Board has dealt
with high volumes of work and a wide
range of responsibilities. Our service
delivery has improved further and
reform of legal aid moved forward.
Increasingly we contribute to the
modernisation of the justice system
through working with others to make
sure that the legal aid system meets
the needs of applicants, the profession
and the courts.
Service Delivery
Our ‘core’ business is deciding
applications for legal aid and assessing
accounts received from solicitors and
advocates. Last year we handled over
407,000 grants of legal assistance and
381,000 accounts. How quickly and how
accurately we deal with them is of real
importance to applicants, their advisers
and many others involved in the wider
justice system. It is right therefore that,
in 2003-2004, we consolidated previous
improvements and raised many of our
performance targets reflecting the needs
and priorities of our customers. I am
delighted to report that we met or
exceeded our six main headline targets
and 46 of our individual targets; we
missed only one target –and only by
a narrow margin.
The legal aid bill also rose significantly,
by 7% to £146 million. This rise is due
in large measure to the increase in the
volume of applications, particularly
for summary criminal legal aid, and
increased costs of solemn criminal
cases. Although the average cost of
a summary case was unchanged, the
average cost of a solemn case rose due
to increased spending on solicitors and
advocates fees and outlays such as
expert reports.
Unlike many other jurisdictions, in
Scotland legal aid is not a fixed budget.
All applications that meet the criteria
set by the Scottish Parliament must be
funded; a deserving case is never turned
down or delayed because there is no
money left in the pot. Yet the ongoing
rise in costs must be a concern to all.
The Board does, and will continue to,
work with the Scottish Executive, the
legal profession and other justice
system agencies to look for further
efficiency in the system, to make sure
it is fit for purpose and delivers best
value to the taxpayer.
Reform of Legal Aid
We have implemented a number of
developments in the legal aid system,
for example improved financial eligibility
assessments arrangements for civil legal
aid and the introduction of templates to
simplify requests for increases in some
types of advice and assistance cases.
However the key achievement was the
successful implementation of the most
significant reform of civil legal aid in 50
years, delivered in conjunction with the
Law Society of Scotland. This reform
brings far-reaching benefits including:
• the provision of quality assured
services to applicants
• improved remuneration to those
who deliver the service
• control over the continued
funding of cases
• more efficient and cost
effective administration.
In the coming year we expect to see
reform to criminal legal aid and civil
advice and assistance. Scottish
Ministers are modernising the criminal
justice system. The legal aid system has
a key role in helping the criminal justice
system work effectively, so it will need
to change with it. We expect to see
changes in solemn criminal legal aid,
following Lord Bonomy's review of the
High Court, and to summary criminal
legal assistance following Sheriff
Principal McInnes' review. We are
working on these reforms with the
Scottish Executive, Law Society of
Scotland and Faculty of Advocates.
Alongside this the Board has continued
the programme of investment in the
redevelopment of our computer systems
and we have made significant progress
towards our target of making all our
services available online by 2005. This
autumn the first stage of Legal Aid
Online will go live. This development
will bring savings to both the Board
and the profession and enable further
substantial improvements in the
timeliness and accuracy of our
decision-making, allowing solicitors
to offer an enhanced service to their
clients. A range of firms has worked
with us in this development and I am
heartened by the growing interest
amongst the profession for the launch
of this fast, efficient and secure way
of handling applications and accounts.
Delivery of services
Developing and testing alternative ways
of delivering legal aid and legal advice
services is a growing area of work for
the Board. Following the decision of the
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson MSP, we
have worked to open two further Public
Defence Solicitors' Offices. Glasgow and
Inverness were chosen as the sites so we
4 ANNUAL REPORT