Current status: Answered by Stephen Flynn on 11 June 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the vulnerability of sole traders and small creative businesses to legal and financial pressure arising from civil disputes.
All businesses – wherever they are in the country – can access support from a wide variety of public sector organisations through the Find Business Support website.
Many civil disputes are settled through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation or arbitration. Where court action is necessary, the courts and tribunals system is designed to ensure that disputes are resolved in the most proportionate way possible. This may be through free to the user tribunals or lower cost court actions such as Simple Procedure which is used for disputes with a value of less than £5000 and legal advice is often unnecessary