EBA protests at minister's "obfuscating" paper to MSPs
The Scottish Government has been accused of “obfuscating” the situation of legal aid practitioners by the Edinburgh Bar Association (“EBA”), in an open letter to the Scottish Parliament’s [Criminal] Justice Committee.
The EBA was responding to written comments by Communities Minister Ash Regan, who claimed that the exodus of solicitors from the criminal bar across Scotland is a natural market reaction to a drop in prosecutions, and not a result of continued underfunding of legal aid. The EBA says it is “appalled” by this position, and that claiming that comparisons with legal aid levels before 2008 are “largely irrelevant” due to significant changes in the legal aid system, takes no account of the significant changes since 1999 in the work required to be undertaken by a solicitor.
Signed by President Jonathan Campbell and Vice President Paul Smith, the letter then sets out a long list of statutory changes that have increased the amount of work done especially in summary cases, including additional procedural requirements, increased sentencing powers of the court and special orders such as concerning the sex offenders register, new offences such as stalking and statutory domestic abuse which lead to lengthy summary trials, and additional court sittings on public holidays.
“These are all changes imposed upon the profession by successive governments of all political persuasions”, the letter continues. “None of this is factored into the minister’s representations and the committee is not invited to have any regard to the significant increase in the work required to be done by solicitors.”
It goes on to point out that the prosecution service is recruiting significant numbers of staff rather than allowing significant numbers of staff to leave, and the Public Defence Solicitors Office is itself having difficulty in recruiting, partly due to the better remuneration available to prosecutors.
Instancing specific cases that have had to be adjourned due to the lack of a defence agent, the letter adds: “There is no slack within the system now. The Scottish Government is presently consulting on proposals to give complainers in sexual offence cases the right to legally aided independent legal representation in their case. Who does the SG propose represent them?”
The EBA disputes that there has been a lack of cooperation from the profession in negotiations, and accuses the Government of “stalling” in its proposed timetable for a reformed method of setting legal aid rates.
It concludes: “Rather than obfuscating the matter, the SG should be clear and honest with the profession. While there still is one.”