EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
1. The Scottish Executive publishes the annual Civil Judicial Statistics publication, which provides statistics on the civil law business of a variety of courts, including the sheriff courts and the Court of Session. In 2003, the Scottish Executive Justice Department began a review of the publication, focussing on the use and value of the statistics to the Executive, and also to other organisations interested in civil justice, and in the performance of the courts and access to justice more generally.
2. With this in mind, in October 2006 York Consulting was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Justice Department to carry out research which would identify the data requirements of users, and potential users, of civil judicial statistics and their suggestions for a revised publication. The focus of the research has, therefore, been on generating statistical requests from as broad a range of individuals and organisations as possible, including those with an interest in the civil justice system operating outside the courts.
The Research Aim
3. To carry out a comprehensive review of the statistics and the publication, the research has focussed on three areas:
- developing a new list of statistical requests
- providing feedback on the look, layout and user friendliness of the publication with suggested ways of improving it
- identifying additional datasets generated by organisations which could be considered for inclusion in the revised publication.
Methodology
4. The method considered most appropriate to engage people on the issue of civil judicial statistics was a telephone consultation - booked in advance, with a set of questions forwarded to allow people to prepare their thoughts. It was designed to be a simple and straightforward approach, although in practice it has been challenging to deliver.
5. Seventy one consultations have been completed with individuals, sometimes representing their own interests and sometimes those of the organisation which they represent. However, in addition, many more organisations have been contacted but have felt unable to participate for a number of reasons, with a principal factor being a lack of familiarity with civil justice policies and a perception that the research is not relevant to their business or interests.
Summary of the Findings
6. The research has consulted with 71 individuals and has generated over 400 1 statistical requests. The high number of requests demonstrates the level of interest and regard that organisations have for understanding the application of civil justice.
7. Statistical requests relating to particular areas of the civil justice system have included:
- debt, including bankruptcy, diligence and repossessions: including the need to understand the spatial concentration of cases, how debt is resolved and issues related to repossession
- personal injury: including a greater level of information pertaining to the nature of the injury and the parties involved (private or public body)
- marriage, civil partnership and cohabitation: including patterns of divorce or separation with relation to the above
- children: including parental rights and responsibilities and the care of children
- equality and human rights and protection for women
- outcomes of cases: including how cases are resolved and over what period of time
- court efficiency: including general requests relating to the volume of cases and throughput across all courts
- how the courts are able to support users in terms of access to legal aid, issues related to representation and support for vulnerable witnesses
- alternative dispute resolution: including the use and outcomes of mediation and tribunals.
8. There were a number of suggestions to help improve the publication, which included:
- providing a summary of the datasets
- making the language more appropriate for lay readers
- including a glossary of terms
- increasing the font size to make it more user friendly for partially sighted readers
- reducing the number of tables showing statistics for each month and including more showing annual changes.
9. In addition, the research also generated a list of additional datasets which could potentially be included in the revised publication. These included:
- mediation: uptake and outcome of mediation (from a sample of cases)
- legal aid: who accesses legal aid and which cases are funded by legal aid
- Children's Hearings: results from Children's Hearings by case
- debt and bankruptcy: number of people made bankrupt by geographical area.
10. The research has been perceived as a positive exercise and consultees have been supportive of the research aims.