The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. While it will continue to meet, the Committee has agreed it will not consider petitions submitted after 10 October. This is to ensure all petitions currently in the system can be considered before the next Scottish Parliament election. It is also unlikely that the Committee would be able to schedule and meaningfully progress petitions submitted after 10 October before the election. Contact the Committee team at petitions.committee@parliament.scot for more information about the petitions process.
If you are seeking emergency action or an urgent policy change please contact one of your 8 MSPs or the Scottish Government directly
Closed petition PE1983: Improve the transparency and accountability of Scottish legal courts
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to improve the transparency and accountability of the Scottish legal system by ensuring:
clear information is provided to members of public about how their case will be considered; and
information is made available to members of the public about the processes for making a complaint about court staff.
Previous action taken
I have written to the First Minister and to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Keith Brown MSP.
I have also made a number of complaints directly to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS).
Background information
There are two sections to the courts: the appointed Judges, and court staff (civil servants), and in my experience, court staff appear to have the authority to provide a case to a specific Judge at a time of their own choosing.
Without transparency in the processing of court applications, I believe court staff are being allowed to bypass accountability. In my view, this has created a super body of public executives, with any communication by an MSP to any public service institution being reluctantly ignored or replied to at the convenience of the public servant.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
28 signatures