This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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In-court advice service for Aberdeen
03/11/2003
A pilot In-Court Advice service for Aberdeen Sheriff
Court was announced today.
Many people who come to court on a civil matter do so
with little or no legal advice. The pilot service, which
will be run day-to-day by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB),
will provide free legal advice, support, and information to
people who are not represented by a solicitor in civil
actions, such as small claims, housing, and debt
actions.
The pilot will test whether the service will
deliver:
• An increase in the number of people seeking and
obtaining advice
• An increase in the number of people seeking advice
before the day of a hearing
• More effective hearings as people will be better
informed
• Greater efficiency of the court system,
particularly in small claims
• Improved confidence in people that they can come to
court and be successful even if they cannot afford a
solicitor
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said:
"Our partnership agreement gives a clear priority to
providing a safer, stronger Scotland, supporting
communities and improving public services. Our justice
system is a public service which should provide the people
of Scotland with the best service possible.
"Good advice is at the heart of that service and it is
becoming increasingly clear that good advice is not
available at the right time in every part of the country.
I see the In-Court Advice pilots as a positive step forward
- improving the access to justice for people involved in
civil proceedings who cannot always afford a solicitor.
"I want to encourage people to tackle their everyday
legal problems promptly, avoiding the downward spiral of
one problem leading to another. But to achieve this we
must get people to become more aware of their rights and
responsibilities - ensuring they have ready access to good
advice, without the worry of costs.
"The In-Court Advice service will help provide that
awareness through good advice and information. This will
lead to a strengthening of our communities and improve
public confidence in the fairness of our legal system."
Pat Stewart, manager of Aberdeen CAB, said:
"We are delighted that Aberdeen is one of the pilots
for this much needed service. We do a great deal of court
representation work already in the bureau for things like
evictions, but we've just never had the resources to do
more specialist legal work. Now we can work to close the
gap and help to empower and support people in Aberdeen -
often the most vulnerable people - to engage with the legal
system on more equal terms."
The Aberdeen pilot will be funded by the Scottish
Executive, but managed on a day-to-day by the Citizens
Advice Bureau. It is hoped that the service will be up and
running by the end of the year.
The first In-Court Advice service was at Edinburgh
Sheriff Court and started in 1997. Research about the
Edinburgh service is available at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/kd01/purple/scu2-00.asp
Pilots will now be set up in Airdrie, Dundee and
Aberdeen and will run until April 2006 when a full
evaluation will be taken before a decision is taken for a
further roll-out of the service.
The Scottish Executive will be providing £250,000 a year
until 2006 in total for all of the pilots.