Civil Judicial Statistics Scotland, December 2011

Contents Background Current publication Results from current publication Dissemination Work going forward

Background Publication suspended after Civil Judicial Statistics Scotland 2002Civil Judicial Statistics Scotland 2002 –lack of precision in the definition of data items –inconsistent across the 49 sheriff courts –data unreliable and potentially misleading Scottish Court Service and SG worked together to address data quality issues Publication reinstated in December 2010 –Improved data quality –Consistent data recording –2010 publication contained and data

publication - What is different? Thematic layout and improved sign posting Increased use of contextual information: –Results from Scottish Crime and Justice Survey included ( results, results published 1/11/10) –Scottish Legal Aid –Mid-year population estimates –Court structure diagram Extra tables: –Supplementary time series tables ( to ) published alongside publication –Interactive dataset published Consultation released with publication

Presentation issues addressed Accessibility requirements –Colour scheme chosen to maximise accessibility –Text now left-aligned rather than justified –Publication made available as a Word file Improved presentation –Shading added to tables –Charts and diagrams added

Court of Session – Court of Session –5,176 cases initiated (down 16 per cent) –4,291 cases disposed of (down 1 per cent)

Sheriff courts – Sheriff Courts –92,308 cases initiated (down 17 per cent) –87,504 cases disposed of (down 17 per cent)

Breakdown by case type

Differences across Sheriffdoms

Legal Aid: Civil legal aid spending in the Court of Session was £8.94m, an increase of 3 per cent since Civil legal aid spending in the sheriff courts was £29.8m, an increase of 15 per cent since The number of grants for legal aid has increased over the past three years due to the impact of the recession

Dissemination strategy notification went out to ScotStat users Statistical news release published on SG website Two twitter announcements went out with publication Presenting to internal and external colleagues, including Justice Analytical Services user day Picked up by various groups

Going forward? Collecting responses from users More contextual information Include results from other surveys and data collections Improved data –Working with the SCS

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Ordinary procedure cases The number of ordinary procedure cases has continued to fall in Largest drop in ordinary cause cases, but little change in the number of commercial and family cases initiated

Overview of civil courts Court of Session - highest civil court in Scotland Sheriff Courts - local courts, dealing with both criminal and civil business, as well as commissary work Justice of the Peace (JP) courts - local courts, dealing with lower-level criminal and civil cases

Court of Session based in Edinburgh 49 sheriff courts across Scotland, grouped into six sheriffdoms

Differences across sheriffdoms Fewer cases were initiated and disposed in each sheriffdom in –Largest fall in Lothian and Borders (24% fewer cases initiated, 24% fewer cases disposed) –Smallest change in cases initiated seen in Grampian, Highlands and Islands (down 12%) –Smallest change in cases disposed seen in North Strathclyde (down 9%) Glasgow and Strathkelvin has dealt with the most cases per 1,000 population, with around 30% more than any other sheriffdom

Debt cases The number of debt cases initiated and disposed of continued to fall across all procedural levels of the sheriff courts One possible reason for this is the economic downturn

Repossession cases Ordinary cause cases initiated down by almost half - due to new legislation Smaller fall in disposed cases partly due to RBS vs Wilson judgment The fall in summary cause cases is thought to be due to a change in the way that some local authorities deal with rent arrears

Repossession cases Ordinary procedure mortgage/loan-related repossession cases initiated down by almost half in mostly due to Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010 Summary cause cases initiated has fallen by 29 per cent since –Thought to be due to a change in the way that rent arrears are managed across some local authorities

Family cases Almost all family cases are raised in the sheriff courts Family cases account for 16 per cent of cases initiated in the sheriff courts Over three-quarters of cases initiated are for divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership

Personal Injury Personal injury cases make up more than half of the cases processed in the Court of Session –New ruling on pleural plaques released after publication sent to publishers Most personal injury cases are for something other than an asbestos-related condition or clinical negligence

Commissary Ordinary estate figures for similar to those for Number of small estates confirmed continues to fall Ordinary EstateSmall Estate ConfirmedAverageConfirmedAverage ,823£204,0004,161£16, ,537£197,0002,881£18, ,038£203,0002,553£19,100

Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 28% of respondents had experienced at least one civil law problem in the last three years 49% of those who had experienced a problem had solved that problem - 7% had given up trying, while 6% were not doing anything towards solving the problem

publication Published on 25 October 2011 Based on the publication Several changes and improvements...