Reclaiming Motion In The Cause Glasgow City Council Against The Scottish Legal Aid Board And Pq
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lord Malcolm,Lord Drummond Young,Lord President |
| Neutral Citation | [2018] CSIH 37 |
| Docket Number | P284/17 |
| Date | 23 May 2018 |
| Court | Court of Session |
| Published date | 23 May 2018 |
FIRST DIVISION, INNER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION
[2018] CSIH 37
P284/17
Lord President
Lord Drummond Young
Lord Malcolm
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LORD CARLOWAY, the LORD PRESIDENT
in the reclaiming motion
in causa
GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL
Petitioners and Respondents
against
THE SCOTTISH LEGAL AID BOARD
Respondents and Reclaimers
and
PQ
Interested Party
Petitioners and Respondents: Poole, QC, Roxburgh; Glasgow City Council
Respondents and Reclaimers: Crawford, QC; Scottish Legal Aid Board
Interested Party: IG Mitchell QC; Drummond Miller LLP
23 May 2018
Introduction
[1] This is a reclaiming motion by the respondents (the Board) seeking to review the
2
interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary, dated 22 December 2017, granting the prayer of the
petition and reducing decisions made by the Board to make civil legal aid available to the
interested party. The legal aid was to enable him to reclaim a decision of a different Lord
Ordinary dismissing petitions for judicial review of certain decisions of the petitioners (the
Council) concerning the care of his mother. The issue for determination is whether the Lord
Ordinary erred in holding that the Board had acted unfairly towards the Council in
determining the interested party’s legal aid applications.
The Statutory Framework
[2] Section 2 of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 provides the Board with wide powers
to do anything which it considers necessary or expedient in order to secure the provision of
legal aid or which is calculated to facilitate, or is incidental to or conducive to, the discharge
of its functions. Section 14 (availability of civil legal aid) states:
“(1) ... civil legal aid shall be available to a person, on an application made to the
Board if–
(a) the Board is satisfied that he has a probabilis causa litigandi; and
(b) it appears to the Board that it is reasonable ... that he should receive
legal aid.”
[3] Section 34 (Confidentiality of information) provides:
“(1) ... no information furnished for the purpose of this Act to the Board ... shall be
disclosed –
(a) in the case of such information furnished by ... a person seeking ...
legal aid, ... without the consent of the person seeking ... legal aid ...; or
(2) Sub-section (1) above shall not apply to the disclosure of information –
(a) for the purposes of the proper performance ... by ... the Board ... of
duties of functions under this Act ...
...”.
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