Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to set out its proposals for the reform of the legal aid system.
The SG has today published a Legal Aid Reform Discussion Paper which sets out the three areas of work the Scottish Government will be undertaking to improve legal aid. We will bring forward Regulations by the end of 2025 to simplify the regulatory framework which governs the eligibility for legal assistance and to improve the application process, reducing the burden on both solicitors and those that need legal services and ensuring funding is provided as quickly and easily as possible.
We will also resume work to conduct research on legal aid fees and to implement changes informed by that research. Both of these areas of work will make it easier for solicitors to work with legal aid funding and for those who need help to obtain it.
Longer-term we will take forward a review of the whole system to ensure that it is adaptable, flexible, affordable and sustainable for the future.
We are committed to working with private sector law firms, third sector organisations and users of legal assistance services to develop that system and identify what primary legislation would be required to deliver it.