Criminal cases putting sheriff courts under strain, Audit Scotland reports

Scotland's sheriff courts are under increasing pressure in dealing with criminal business, due to reducing budgets and more complex cases, Audit Scotland reveals in a report published today.

Efficiency of prosecuting criminal cases through the sheriff court system finds that fewer cases are concluding within the 26-week performance target, the average time for cases to conclude has risen, and a greater proportion of cases are going to trial. This is, in part, due to a greater focus on more complex cases involving domestic abuse and historic sexual offences, and a subsequent rise in reporting of these types of crimes.

At the same time, since 2010-11, the budgets of the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service have experienced a more significant reduction than the overall Scottish Government budget, falling by 28% and 14% respectively in real terms up to 2014-15 (17% and 12% in terms of the operational budgets) compared with a 7% real terms fall in the total Government budget. 

The estimated annual cost of prosecuting sheriff courts cases is over £200m, but in 2014-15 almost half of court appearances did not proceed as planned, with an estimated £10m spent on cases being adjourned unnecessarily.

The report does not consider the impact of recent court closures, the impact of which is currently being assessed by the Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service.

However it notes that establishment of the Scottish Government's Justice Board has improved joint working between key national bodies and management of the system as a whole, which helped manage a 10% increase in the number of cases in 2013-14. It states that it is important that work is undertaken to replicate that progress at a local level.

The report recommends that the public agencies concerned should work together tmodel how changes in policy on charging and prosecution in one part of the sheriff court system affect costs across the whole system, to enable better forward planning and reallocation of resources.

They should also take a fresh look at how they measure and report the performance of sheriff courts, and consider how to build upon the 26-week performance target to provide a broader public picture of the system's efficiency.

The Scottish Government, COPFS, the Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service and members of the judiciary should share and implement good practice across sheriffdoms and individual courts to reduce avoidable "churn" of cases and reduce the time taken to reach a verdict, and improve their working together at local level to ensure that national initiatives and improved joint working are effectively reproduced locally.

Around 88,000 people face prosecution in the sheriff court system every year, with many more being involved as victims, witnesses, prosecutors, defence agents, court staff and the judiciary.

Caroline Gardner, Auditor General for Scotland, said: "Like many parts of the public sector, the sheriff court system is facing falling budgets. Together with an increasing focus on cases which are more complex, this is putting pressure on the system as a whole. To deal with this, all the bodies involved in our sheriff court system must continue to develop how they work together, both nationally and locally."

The issues will be discussed by Holyrood's Public Accounts Committee on 7 October.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service said: "In recognising the importance of judicial case management, the Lord Justice Clerk has introduced a criminal courts practice note which sets out the benefits of judicial control over the use of court time, the need for greater efficiency and the better use of available resources, and the contribution which the Crown and the defence will be expected to make to enable the sheriff to perform judicial case management in solemn cases.

"We are also reviewing our published performance measures in order to make them more meaningful to the public in the future."

Andrew Alexander, head of access to justice at the Law Society of Scotland, commented: “It’s helpful that an area as crucial as criminal courts has undergone such detailed and independent scrutiny. The report recognises the changing dynamic of summary courts in Scotland, with increasing numbers of complex cases. Those working across the justice system are aware of the challenges and a clear one is around budgets – the report flags the declining SCTS and COPFS budgets, for instance.

“We support the wider use of technology, such as videoconferencing and wifi access, and believe that this could offer significant efficiencies. We are keen to explore ways in which the legal aid system can recognise the challenges of this changing mix of court work and also encourage earliest resolution of cases. Our legal aid strategy paper, published this summer, makes a number of recommendations to address these issues."