Chamber and committees

Will the member give way?

I thank the cabinet secretary for her statement. For a just transition to be successful, the community must feel that it is an integral part of the change. I appreciate that the cabinet secretary referenced this in her statement, but can she give more detail on how the community can be actively, rather than passively, involved? Any change can be judged a success only if it is delivered through people and not to people.

I must admit that I am not entirely sure. We understand the meaning of the term “accountability” and how it is differentiated from “responsibility”, but I would ask the Lord President about the active interest that he takes in the multitude of situations that we as MSPs have all come across as well as the situation that I have described.

This is not really about process; it is about power and the lack of independence. Undue power is given to the legal profession, while far too little is given to our fellow citizens who have genuine complaints. Like most people, I am not trained in the process of weighing evidence or in being able to assess the bar for the “beyond reasonable doubt” standard required for the SSDT or the “balance of probabilities” standard required for the SLCC. The lawyer about whom I made my complaints held many of the cards, not least of which was the fact that this was not the first time that he had been through the process. Meanwhile, the lawyers who assessed my complaints held the rest.

I have thought a great deal about the original situation. The only way in which I could have protected myself from the original solicitor would have been to record every meeting, ask for everything in writing and seek independent verification of any claim that they had made or advice that they had proffered. The only way in which I could have protected myself from the complaints process would have been not to bother, and to go straight to legal action. However, as somebody who holds her society dear, I thought that I would do the right thing—and I thought that the legal profession would do the right thing, too. What I actually experienced is hardly a ringing endorsement.

The experience led me to recognise the need for independent regulation. If it is good enough for multiple other professions, such as architects, dentists, doctors and teachers, why is it not good enough for the legal profession? Other countries recognise its benefits—why not Scotland? Why should our consumers be expected to settle for second best?

Despite recognising the minister’s efforts, which we have discussed, I have to say that I believe the proposed legislation to be inadequate. I agree with the comments of Professor Stephen Mayson, who noted:

“The Government has boxed itself into a corner. It has said that we cannot have independent regulation and can no longer sustain self-regulation. We have to fudge something in whatever the mix is and I am afraid that the fudge will not work.”—[Official Report, Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, 7 November; c 17.]

Given that the bill’s principles do not place our citizens at the heart of the complaints process, I urge the minister to be bold, but today, for the reasons that I have set out, I shall be abstaining.

I note that, in the debate thus far, with the exception of Mr Swinney’s speech, all the airtime seems to have been given to complaints of the Law Society of Scotland, rather than to recognising the real voice of consumers. Does Mr Swinney agree?

I will be very brief. Having gone through all the evidence sessions, I was surprised that nobody on the committee had asked the Law Society how much revenue is embedded in its role as regulator and what percentage that represents of its overall revenue. Does Russell Findlay think that that might be significant?

Does the member recognise the commentary that part of the reason why we ended up where we are is that previous attempts to change things resulted in quite a muddle? Does she share my concern that, in effect, we could end up in the same position at the end of stage 3 as a multitude of amendments are lodged?

To ask the Scottish Government what work is under way to ensure that eligible families across Falkirk East, and the wider country, are aware of and can apply for the best start grant before the deadline of 29 February. (S6O-03104)

Today, I intend to speak on just one element of the bill—the process of complaints. I am probably the only member who has been through the entire process, which took more than six years after I submitted a complaint about a solicitor some years back. I have had dealings with all the bodies involved—the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal.

I regard myself as pretty resilient, yet I found the process extraordinarily complex, opaque, time consuming, traumatic and lacking in justice. It takes no account of the impact on the complainant and is, frankly, biased in favour of the solicitor and the legal profession. When, at the outset, I asked about the process, little further detail was given; however, it was made clear in the response that I received, and from which I quote, that:

“We normally take the solicitor’s word at face value.”

I was told to gather evidence, but no advice was given on what was meant by evidence. I recruited a KC, who is now a judge, but his evidence on my behalf was given scant attention when compared with the solicitor about whom I had complained. The Law Society gave no consideration to the retraumatisation that I suffered as a result of its process, despite my making it aware of that, and my confidence in the committee to whom case decisions go for final sign-off was fatally compromised when a lay member told me:

“We don’t have time to read all the case work. We simply sign off on what the investigator says.”

I do not intend to give any more detail today but I thank the minister and Ash Regan, when she was in post, for meeting me, and I undertake to speak individually with any MSP, member of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and, indeed, the minister again. I extend that invitation to the Lord President, too, who is merely accountable, not responsible, for what goes on under his watch and who I feel sure would be shocked by the details that I can articulate.

I am well aware of the stooshie around that, but I am sure that I recall Esther Roberton saying that it would be relatively easy for a role to be maintained for the Lord President and, therefore, for us to forgo that issue. Is that the member’s recollection from all the evidence sessions? In other words, the situation is not impossible with goodwill on all sides.

Will the member take an intervention?