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Introduction
1 In October 2000, the Deputy First Minister, Jim Wallace, announced that he intended to establish a working group to consider how a community legal service1 might be developed for Scotland. This group, formed shortly afterwards, meets under the title of the Review of Legal Advice and Information Provision in Scotland. Group membership was drawn from a wide range of organisations with an interest in the provision of legal advice and the needs of users including the Scottish Legal Aid Board, Citizen's Advice Scotland, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Law Society, Law Centres and other independent advice-based organisations. Many of the members drawn from the not for profit sector are also members of the Association of Scottish Legal Advice Networks (ASLAN), which was set up as a united voice for non-profit legal service providers. The Secretariat function to the Group was provided jointly by the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Scottish Executive. A full list of the organisations represented on the Working Group is at Annex A.
2 The Working Group was given a year to produce a report on its findings for the Deputy First Minister. This document fulfils that commitment.
3 The Group first met in December 2000 and has since met on a monthly basis. It has reported on time on a very complex area with many inter-related interests. This report can be viewed as a milestone in a process to improve civil justice for all in Scotland. It will take further time and effort to develop and establish a service in Scotland that can make a clear difference to the lives of individuals. However, we are confident that the recommendations in this report are an important step in this process of change.
Remit of the Group
4 The remit of the Working Group is:
'To examine how to develop a Community Legal Service in Scotland and to report to the Minister for Justice in October 2001 with proposals for how a Community Legal Service can be established in Scotland.'
Concept and Purpose of a Community Legal Service (CLS) for Scotland
5 Early meetings of the Group included considerable discussion about what the concept and purpose of a CLS should be - who it should be for, what its scope should be and what legal services should be included within a CLS framework.
6 In terms of coverage, the Group agrees that a CLS should include the provision of general information about the law and alternative means of resolving problems; provision of advice; provision of help in preventing or resolving disputes about legal rights and obligations and the provision of help in enforcing decisions. It should cover services provided by lawyers and by other suitably trained people. The Group also feels that it was likely to have a focus primarily on social and welfare issues but could include any area of civil law. It was recognised that there might be a need to consider a focus on certain types of service, particular areas of law or certain client groups.
7 Key elements were acknowledged to be the need to achieve better co-ordination and delivery of services and better use of available resources. Partnership was recognised to be an important foundation for any CLS proposal but this should take place within a national strategic framework to provide a coherent oversight and structure. There was also discussion about the desirability of agreeing a set of principles that a CLS should follow, on issues such as ease of access, partnership, quality assurance and value for money, which focused firmly on client needs.
8 This report highlights the policy and research background to the case for a CLS in Scotland (addressed in Parts 1 and 2) and reinforces the Group's conclusions that there is a need for improvement in access to justice and the establishment of a joined-up network for legal services. Part 4 outlines the general principles that the Group felt a CLS in Scotland should follow. However, in the time available it was not possible for the Group to develop proposals for a fully researched, costed national scheme. As a result, the Group are seeking commitment from Ministers to a series of next steps that would together form a development phase of work leading to firm proposals for a CLS. In addition, the Group have produced recommendations on the basis of work carried out by sub-groups that tackle the issues of delivery, referral, quality assurance and funding. Whilst those recommendations deal with a level of detail which cannot be fully explored until the overall policy and structure of a CLS is clear, they are offered to inform a later stage of CLS development.
The Process
9 The Group have held 10 meetings since December 2000. At an earlier stage in its work the Group received written contributions from:
The Equal Opportunities Commission
Citizens Advice Scotland
Shelter
The Federation of Independent Advice Centres.
10 The Group also received background information about standards currently in use in the advice sector, the role of the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Highland Advice and Information Network and research papers on the delivery of housing advice. In addition, presentations were received from:
Professor Hazel Genn, University College, London
Rachael Naylor, Departmental Manager for Planning and Partnership at the
Legal Services Commission
Lorraine Jackson, Regional Planning and Partnership Manager, Yorkshire and
Humberside
Stuart Levin, Economic Development Adviser, Five Lamps, North East CLS Partnership.
Research
11 The Group agreed that it needed information on provision and demand for services at a local level. Therefore a research study - the 'microcosm study' - was commissioned to give the Group a detailed picture of perceived need and accessibility of legal advice and assistance within distinct urban and rural localities to allow comparison across areas with different geographic profiles. The general public responded to questionnaires and took part in focus groups. The work was carried out by the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit. The research results were available to the Group in August and helped inform the recommendations contained in this report. In the time available, the research project could not cover provision of services. We recommend that further work is done on this aspect as part of the development phase of work outlined in this report.
12 Professor Alan Paterson also made a significant contribution to the work of the group as research consultant.
Sub-Groups
13 The Group established sub-groups that considered four different areas that are of importance in the provision of effective advice -these areas are Delivery, Referral, Quality and Funding. These sub-groups were established in March and prepared reports that were delivered to the main Group in June. The sub-groups were tasked with providing more detailed thinking on the issues and they were successful in working through important concepts and developing practical proposals to help shape a possible structure for a CLS in Scotland.
Conclusion
14 The Group has concluded that there is a need to improve access to justice. This view is supported by existing policy and research findings. The most recent research confirms significant shortcomings in the provision of legal advice and information in Scotland which must be resolved before justice is accessible to all. The Group highlights the importance of developing a legal advice and assistance service in Scotland to address these points but acknowledges this will take time.
15 The Group considers that this report marks a milestone in the process to improve access to civil justice in Scotland. We are now seeking a commitment from Ministers to carry out development work, which will lead to firm proposals for new services in Scotland.
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