Study ordered of bill's impact on judiciary

Government follows up Justice Committee's concerns on Judiciary and Courts Bill

News, 14 May 2008

The possible impact on the judiciary's time of proposals in the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Bill is to be the subject of a short-life independent review.

During the bill's stage 1 debate in the Scottish Parliament today, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced that he has asked Douglas Osler, the former senior chief inspector of education in Scotland, to carry out the review.

In its report on the bill, the Justice Committee, while backing the bill's general principles, expressed concerns that the new administrative tasks it would impose on judges would impact on their existing judicial duties.

The review will be asked "To reach an independent view on the extent to which new functions proposed for the judiciary in the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Bill will require the commitment of additional judicial time to administrative tasks, and to quantify that commitment of additional judicial time."

Mr Osler carried out the Agency Review of the Scottish Court Service, published in January 2006, into the structure and governance of the Scottish Court Service, including aspects of judicial administration. His review will be carried out before the bill returns to the Justice Committee for further scrutiny at stage 2, which is scheduled to begin on 10 June.

Mr MacAskill said the review's findings would help inform the ongoing work to develop the bill in the next few months.

"When the bill becomes law it will, along with our programme of summary justice reform, help improve the experience of the public and practitioners in our justice system."