Question reference: S6W-13059
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 9 December 2022
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 January 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03423 by Kevin Stewart on 25 October 2021, what the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) backlog is of power of attorney applications from September 2021 to date, and what support it is offering OPG to address this backlog.
Answer
The latest available figure, as at 27 October 2022, there are 31,793 Power of Attorney (PoA) deeds awaiting registration.
For week commencing 6 September 2021 the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) were processing the following Power of Attorney applications:
- Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 12 March 2021
- Postal submissions received around 22 February 2021
For week commencing 19 December 2022, the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) were processing the following Power of Attorney applications:
- Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 19 May 2022
- Postal submissions received around 10 May 2022
There is an expedited system for more urgent applications.
Within the 2023-24 Budget, the Scottish Government has provided COVID recovery funding to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) totalling £26.8m which includes £0.3m for OPG recovery.
The Scottish Government has also provided additional capital funding to SCTS for 2023-24 including for the Office of the Public Guardian IT system