Civil Judicial Statistics Scotland, 2010-11

Civil Judicial Statistics Scotland, 2010-11 8 December 2011

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

Background • Publication suspended after Civil 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 2008-09 and 2009-10 data

2010-11 publication - What is different? • Thematic layout and improved sign posting • Increased use of contextual information: • Results from Scottish Crime and Justice Survey included • (2009-10 results, 2010-11 results published 1/11/10) • Scottish Legal Aid • Mid-year population estimates • Court structure diagram • Extra tables: • Supplementary time series tables (2008-09 to 2010-11) 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 – 2010-11 • Court of Session • 5,176 cases initiated (down 16 per cent) • 4,291 cases disposed of (down 1 per cent)

Sheriff courts – 2010-11 • 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: 2010-11 • Civil legal aid spending in the Court of Session was £8.94m, an increase of 3 per cent since 2009-10 • Civil legal aid spending in the sheriff courts was £29.8m, an increase of 15 per cent since 2009-10 • The number of grants for legal aid has increased over the past three years due to the impact of the recession

Dissemination strategy • E-mail notification went out to ScotStat users • Statistical news release published on SG website • Two twitter announcements on @SGJusticeAnalys 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

Ordinary procedure cases • The number of ordinary procedure cases has continued to fall in 2010-11 • 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 2010-11 • 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

Family cases 2010-11 • 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 2010-11 similar to those for 2008-09 • Number of small estates confirmed continues to fall

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

2010-11 publication • Published on 25 October 2011 • Based on the 2009-10 publication • Several changes and improvements...

Civil Judicial Statistics Scotland, 2010-11