Current Petitions

The final current petition is PE1257, by Mark Hutchison, which calls on the Parliament to urge the Government to take measures to ensure that solicitors who act as court reporters and who knowingly supply false information to a sheriff are not immune from prosecution, and that their reports are amended to correct any inaccuracies before a decision by the court is made.Do members have any comments on the petition, which we have discussed in detail? I suggest that we close it.

I fully understand where the petitioner is coming from. He clearly feels aggrieved and that the solutions that were available to him are inadequate.I note that we have a copy of a letter from a sheriff principal explaining the lie of the land. It is clear that the courts are not at all interested in having their judgments impugned by other people, other than through the appropriate legal process. The letter states quite categorically where the courts are coming from. Solicitors acting as court reporters are immune from prosecution, and courts are not going to entertain that. We have explored the issue. Other remedies were available, but that is, quite simply, the law. We have done what we can. Again, the petitioner will not be happy, but I do not think that we can take the petition any further, and I suggest that we close it.

I think that the petition came to the committee before I became a member. From whom did we seek information in the interests of the complainant or the consumer in this kind of situation?

I cannot remember every organisation, but I know that the committee wrote to the Scottish Government, the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, Consumer Focus and two or three other organisations that I cannot remember off the top of my head. The petitioner has also had the opportunity to comment at each stage.

Was Consumer Focus’s response significantly different from those of the others?

I cannot remember the terms of the response.

I am not really in a position to comment, so I will go with what the rest of the committee thinks.

We will close the petition on the grounds that we have discussed.