Listen
Scottish Court Service
30/06/2008
A three-month consultation on proposals for the unification of court administration in the Sheriffdom of Tayside, Central and Fife gets underway today.
As part of the wider reforms of Summary Criminal Justice, the administration of all the summary courts in Scotland will be undertaken in future by the Scottish Court Service (SCS).
Currently District Courts are run by local authorities while SCS has responsibility for the Court of Session, High Courts and Sheriff Courts. Following unification of administration new Justice of the Peace Courts replace the former District Courts.
The consultation proposals have been developed following extensive discussions with local authorities, justice partners and other interested parties in the Sheriffdom.
The report proposes that when the unification of courts administration takes place in Tayside, Central and Fife in February 2009, the new Justice of the Peace Courts would continue to sit in the same locations as the former district courts in Arbroath, Dundee, Forfar, Perth, Falkirk, Stirling, Cupar and Kirkcaldy and that Alloa and Dunfermline Justice of the Peace court sittings would move to the sheriff court locations in these towns.
In the longer term SCS are proposing that the Justice of the Peace Courts in Perth, Falkirk and Stirling would relocate to the sheriff court buildings in these locations after the required building works have been carried out to accommodate these new courts.
Eleanor Emberson, Chief Executive of SCS, said:
"Essentially our proposals for the Tayside, Central and Fife Sheriffdom are based on the principal to co-locate wherever possible the new Justice of the Peace Courts within adapted Sheriff Court buildings in the same towns and cities. This has the advantage of providing integrated services, a single contact point for all court users and a greater clarity in terms of management and accountability for court services.
"We are proposing that the Dundee Justice of the Peace Court will remain in the former district court facility adjacent to the Sheriff Court and that SCS should take over and upgrade the district court facility at Kirkcaldy for the Kirkcaldy Justice of the Peace Court."