A recently published report by the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee has raised a number of concerns with the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill was introduced to Parliament in February of this year, and proposes several key reforms to the Scottish civil court system based on the recommendations of Lord Gill’s Scottish Civil Courts Review.
Measures contained within the Bill include the creation of a new judicial office of ‘summary sheriff’ to cover a more restricted range of civil and criminal matters and the establishment of a specialist Scotland-wide court, initially intended to deal with personal injury cases.
In its report, the Committee said it welcomes the general principles of the Bill, but is concerned about proposals to increase the monetary threshold for an action in the sheriff court from £5,000 to £150,000.
“Improving access to justice is a key part of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Bill,” commented Committee Convener Christine Grahame MSP. “Freeing up the Court of Session to deal with the most complex and serious cases is a step in the right direction. However, raising the monetary threshold from £5,000 to the proposed £150,000 raised questions about whether this is too great a leap.”
“Not only would these reforms perhaps restrict access to counsel, but there are concerns about the capacity of sheriff courts to deal with the increase in cases,” she added. “Our Committee recommends that the Scottish Government give serious consideration to lowering the monetary limit.”
The Committee also expressed concerns over the capacity of the proposed specialist personal injury court and therefore recommended that the new court is established prior to the new level of privative jurisdiction being introduced.
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