Decade-long wait to clear backlog of court cases

● Pandemic has sent waiting list for trials ‘ballooning’ MSPS are told

The backlog of some court cases in Scotland could take up to a decade to clear without more investment, the chief executive of the courts and tribunals service has warned MSPS.

Eric Mcqueen told the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee the number of High Court trials waiting for a court date had doubled since the beginning of the pandemic, with the non-jury trial backlog in sheriff courts ballooning to 27,000 compared to precovid levels.

He warned the backlog would take at least two years to clear if more investment was forthcoming from the Scottish Government, but warned the backlog could take until 2030 to clear otherwise.

Justice secretary Humza Yousaf said there was no “silver bullet” to solve the problem.

Justice secretary He said court delays were more than “just a statistical exercise”, admitting there were “no easy answers”.

At the High Court pre-covid-19, there was around 390 cases waiting to be heard, a number that has risen to 750 as of the beginning of August and could increase further to 1,400 cases over the next three or four years.

Once the court is back to full capacity, the backlog is likely to plateau at 800 cases unless more money is found.

For jury cases in sheriff courts, the backlog has jumped from 500 cases to 1,800 and is likely to rise further to 2,000. It could take five or six years to bring the numbers down to pre-covid levels.

The figures are most stark in non-jury cases in sheriff courts, with the number of trials awaiting a court date sitting at 27,000 cases post Covid, up from 14,000 trials precovid.

Mrmcqueenwarnedthejustice committee that without additional funding, the backlog could take up to a decade to clear.

The courts chief said additional investment for the courts and tribunals service could see backlogs in criminal cases drop to two years if the funding is spent on remote trials and remote jury centres such as those already tested in cinemas in recent weeks.

Mr Yousaf said: “There’s not one solution that will magic this problem away even if we did have a pot of money, which you know we don’t.”

“There’s not one solution that will magic this problem away evenifwedidhavea pot of money, which you know we don’t”

HUMZA YOUSAF