Chamber and committees

Good morning, members, and thank you, convener.

These Scottish statutory instruments form part of the Scottish Government’s programme of legal aid reform, which aims to strengthen access to justice and ensure that the system remains fair and sustainable for those who need it most. They were developed in partnership with the Scottish Legal Aid Board, and I would like to express my thanks for its valuable contribution.

I also extend my gratitude to the profession for its thoughtful and constructive engagement throughout the consultation. The Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association have expressed broad support for the regulations.

Access to justice is a fundamental right, and we want to ensure that people get the help that they need and that there are solicitors available to provide it. That is why we have embarked on these changes to Scotland’s legal aid system—changes that will make a real difference to people’s lives, while ensuring that the system works better for legal professionals.

The Criminal Legal Aid and Assistance by Way of Representation (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 will improve access to justice in criminal cases by simplifying legal aid processes, standardising eligibility, and ensuring fair and sustainable remuneration for solicitors. For solemn cases that are resolved by a plea of guilty at any diet prior to trial, the regulations provide that the preparation fee payable will be the same as for cases disposed of under section 76 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. This means that the fee will be the same in all circumstances when an accused person has a plea of guilty accepted at a diet prior to trial, recognising the preparation and negotiation work done to resolve the case without full trial proceedings. It incentivises early resolution where appropriate and maintains fairness in payment structures for solicitors.

For summary criminal cases, the regulations will remove the provision of assistance by way of representation and establish summary criminal legal aid as the default form of legal aid. This will be available in any case, regardless of the plea tended by an accused at the first calling of the case in court, thus removing administrative hurdles and ensuring timely access to representation for those most in need. The regulations will also remove the payment differential between remuneration for duty solicitors and the wider fixed payment regime so that the fee structure supports fair payment, no matter who is acting for the accused.

The Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 will strengthen support for children within the children’s hearings system. Children’s Hearings Scotland, the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and Citizens Advice Scotland have expressed broad support for the regulations.

Children applying for assistance by way of representation—or ABWOR—will no longer need to pass income or merit tests to be eligible for support; it will be available automatically. A grant of ABWOR will also be extended to last from an instigation hearing until a full compulsory supervision order is made or the hearing is discharged.

The initial authorised expenditure limit for solicitors will rise substantially, from £135 to £550, so reducing the number of applications that solicitors need to submit and thus improving efficiencies. An important aspect is that care leavers in receipt of the £2,000 care leaver payment will not have it counted as income or capital when assessing their eligibility, thereby reducing the financial barriers that care leavers might face. Overall, the changes will reduce administrative work for the Scottish Legal Aid Board and solicitors, provide greater certainty of representation for children and lessen the need to reassess their financial circumstances, and they are expected to have a direct positive impact on trauma-informed service delivery.

Although reforms proposing block fees in cases affecting adults with incapacity were considered, we will not progress those changes at this time. It was clear from the consultation that more work with stakeholders is needed to find the correct balance when applying block fees for those cases. The Scottish Government acknowledges those concerns, as well as the committee’s recommendations from the recent inquiry into civil legal aid, and is committed to ensuring that any amendments align with forthcoming legislative reform in the area to enhance their effectiveness and sustainability. Further engagement will be key to achieving that, and it is important that any changes are taken forward in a coherent and comprehensive way.

In summary, these changes reaffirm our commitment to modernising legal aid, driving forward public efficiency and ensuring that every pound of public funding delivers maximum impact in providing access to justice for everyone in Scotland.

I am happy to take any questions that the committee might have.

Members will be aware that it was not possible to progress the legal aid reform legislation in this parliamentary session. Just over a year ago, I made a commitment that I would do everything that I could in the next 18 months before this session of Parliament finished to introduce the secondary legislation, and that is what is being brought forward today.

On adults with incapacity, after engagement with stakeholders, opinion was divided, which is why we are not taking those proposals forward at the moment. I have had conversations with leading solicitors who take on that work and have listened to their concerns. That is why we have taken the decision to pause that aspect. That work will not be done in the next six weeks, and it will have to go forward into the next parliamentary session.

I am sorry—I did not pick up the first thing that you said. What did you say about looking at things?

Yes, I heard that. I might bring in my officials on this but, in the responses to the consultation, opinion was divided 50:50. Half of the respondents thought that they would get more money and half felt that they would not make enough. That is why we have to pause and do more consultation. I have met solicitors who do that type of work, and I have taken all those points on board. It is just unfortunate that we are not able to progress things because of the timeframe.

I think that that could be taken on board, but that would have to be done at the same time as moving forward with legal aid reform.

Thank you, convener. Following on from the two sets of regulations on legal aid that we have just discussed, I would now like to speak to the committee about the draft First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Local Taxation Chamber (Rules of Procedure and Composition) (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2026.

For context, the Scottish tribunals structure was created by the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014, which introduced a new and simplified statutory framework for tribunals in Scotland. The Scottish tribunals consist of the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. The First-tier Tribunal is organised into a series of chambers that have specialist jurisdictions. There are currently six chambers: the general regulatory chamber; the tax chamber; the housing and property chamber; the local taxation chamber; the health and education chamber; and the social security chamber.

The purpose of the draft amending instrument is to make technical amendments to the procedure and composition rules that are applicable to the local taxation chamber. The LTC considers various appeals relating to non-domestic rates, water charges, civil penalties and council tax matters. The purpose of the amendments to the procedure rules is to insert reference to the Valuation (Proposals Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, which will come into force on 1 April 2026, and to make provision as to the making of proposals by proprietors, tenants and occupiers of lands and heritage for alteration of entries in the valuation roll for non-domestic rates. In addition, the draft instrument will allow an appellant to withdraw an appeal without first being required to make a withdrawal request to the LTC.

The amendments to the composition rules seek to provide a non-exhaustive list of procedural or incidental matters that can be considered by a single legal member, a judicial member or the chamber president of the LTC sitting alone.

I consulted the president of the Scottish tribunals on the draft amending instrument, in line with the requirements of the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014. Further to that engagement, the draft amending instrument has been adjusted.

I understand that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the regulations on 13 January and raised no points on the instrument.

I appreciate that the regulations are very technical in detail, but I will be happy to try to answer any questions. If I am not able to do so, I will bring in my officials.

That has been heard. I regularly meet representatives of the board, and I see work on that happening in the next parliamentary session, when we will explore legal aid reform. It is a big picture, and lots of work has been done in the past 12 months, which I might be able to touch on in answering other questions. However, I see reform of the Scottish Legal Aid Board having to happen in the next parliamentary session, and the board is open to that, too.

Ms Grant has raised the availability of solicitors with me several times, and it is an issue that concerns me. That is why the work that we are discussing is vital, and the simplified process that I am proposing today has been arrived at through engagement with solicitors on how to make legal aid work more attractive to the profession.

I recognise that there are challenges geographically, and I know that work is being done on that. I do not know whether Rhoda Grant is aware that, as of last week or the week before, there has been an agreement for a 13 per cent uplift in legal aid fees, which will come into force in September this year. I have also set up a fee mechanism review group, which will annually review legal aid increases. Further, we are looking at funding 40 traineeship places as well as information technology support.

We are doing everything that we can to work with the profession to enable it to be more lucrative and to encourage solicitors to take on legal aid work, which we hope will help the situation in our rural areas.

That makes sense. A lot of work has been done in the past 12 months and we are now moving into the last six weeks of this session of Parliament. We know that any legal aid reform bill will take time—nothing happens quickly. I am happy to speak to officials about your suggestion and to see whether we could provide the committee with a timeline of what we have done and a summary of what could be done in the next session through secondary legislation, because there is work that can be accelerated without legislation, and then present a look at the bigger picture of legal aid reform legislation in the next session. I will write to the committee on that.

So far, no concerns have been raised with me on that. Officials have reached out to stakeholders and to members ahead of this stage, but if any member has concerns that they want to highlight to me ahead of stage 3, I am happy to discuss them. However, at this stage, no concerns have been raised, so I am content.