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)
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Initiated Disposed
Nu
mb
er
of C
ou
rt o
f Se
ssio
n c
ase
s in
itia
ted
.
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Sheriff courts – 2010-11
• Sheriff Courts– 92,308 cases initiated
(down 17 per cent)
– 87,504 cases disposed of
(down 17 per cent)0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
Initiated Disposed
Num
ber
of s
herif
f cou
rt c
ases
initi
ated
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Breakdown by case type
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
Debt Repossession Family Personal Injury Other
Nu
mb
er
of
ca
se
s in
itia
ted
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Differences across SheriffdomsNumber of cases initiated in 2010-11 per 1,000 population
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Grampian,Highlands and
Islands
Tayside, Centraland Fife
Lothian andBorders
North Strathclyde SouthStrathclyde,
Dumfries andGalloway
Glasgow andStrathkelvin
Sheriffdom
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 0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Ord
ina
ry p
roc
ed
ure
ca
se
s in
itia
ted
Ordinary Commercial
Family Personal Injury
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
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Nu
mb
er
of
de
bt
ca
se
s i
nit
iate
d
Ordinary cause Commercial Summary cause Small claim
• 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
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
Initiated Disposed Initiated Disposed
Ordinary cause Summary cause
Nu
mb
er o
f ca
ses
2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
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
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
Divorce /Dissolution
ParentalResponsibilities
& Rights
Other
Ca
se
s in
itia
ted
in s
he
riff
co
urt
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
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
Court of Session Ordinary cause Summary cause
Nu
mb
er o
f ca
ses
init
iate
d in
201
0-11
Asbestos Clinical Negligence Other
Commissary
• Ordinary estate figures for 2010-11 similar to those for 2008-09
• Number of small estates confirmed continues to fall
Ordinary Estate Small Estate
Confirmed Average Confirmed Average
2008-09 21,823 £204,000 4,161 £16,300
2009-10 20,537 £197,000 2,881 £18,500
2010-11 21,038 £203,000 2,553 £19,100
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...
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