Today I called for the Scottish Government to reconsider their support for court closures across Scotland, including Cupar Sheriff Court, during Scottish Labour Party Business in Holyrood. Todays debate will be the only opportunity to discuss the closures in Parliament out with the Justice Committee and it was important to highlight the Scottish Government’s decisions to accept all the recommendations from Shaping Scotland’s Court Service without proper scrutiny. 

The paper, published this month by the Scottish Court Service, recommends the closure of courts across Scotland, including Cupar Sheriff Court in Fife due to its proximity to Dundee. Other courts affected by the recommendations include Dingwall, Arbroath, Stonehaven and Haddington.

The paper also recommends moving jury trials from Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court over the next 10 years. This move will take place without Parliamentary approval and despite statistics revealing that it would lead to a 283% increase in jury trials at Dunfermline.

These plans are ill-thought out, justice should be delivered locally and in a meaningful way.

The closure of Cupar Sheriff Court and the removal of jury trials from Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court will also make it more difficult for victims and witnesses to get to court. It will mean longer bus or train journeys, often having to share the journey with the person who is accused of committing the crime. It will also potentially lead to delays to cases as people struggle to make the journeys in time. Going to court can be an extremely emotional time and lives can essentially be on hold until they see an end to the case.

The Scottish Government should be making it easier for justice to be done, not harder. Where a court has enough business, or meets a geographical need, it should be retained. By closing Cupar and stopping jury trials in Kirkcaldy they will be penalising the victims and the innocent.

There are also an increasing number of questions still to be answered over whether these proposals will make any significant savings to justify the changes and what the cost will be for the other services replacing them. Yet despite substantial opposition, the SNP are pressing ahead with these closures. This is coupled with the extremely disappointing decision by the Scottish Government to stop funding the Drugs Court.

Both these decisions could lead to significant gaps in the provision of dealing with justice issues across Fife and will only add further strain to the local justice system.