SCOTLAND’S most senior law officer yesterday promised to speed up the justice system by bringing 80 per cent of criminal cases to court within nine months, with priority going to drug trafficking and other serious offences.

Colin Boyd, QC, the Lord Advocate, also promised to make Scotland’s streets safer, as he announced a “strategic plan” for the next three years for the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service.

The plan includes improvements to the way that information is given to victims, witnesses and next-of-kin, and Mr Boyd also announced measures to improve co-operation between the Crown Office, the fiscal service, the police and the courts.

“The priority is to ensure that the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service works with other agencies to improve the quality of the service we provide to the public. It will improve efficiency in the courts and allow police to spend more time at the front line,” he said.

The move was welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, who said that it was the start of a new relationship which could be built on.

Mr Boyd said the measures would go in tandem with the Scottish Executive’s Criminal Procedure Bill, which introduces a mandatory preliminary hearing in the High Court to ensure that the Crown and defence are ready to go to trial.

Among the other measures included in the Bill are fixed trial dates so that victims and witnesses know exactly when to turn up.

Modernisation of the Crown Office and fiscal service since March 2002 has seen the recruitment of 100 additional frontline staff and a new information technology system. There has also been a move to restructure areas to match individual police forces.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP Shadow Justice Minister, said that the Executive had to plough more money into the justice system to make the reforms work.

She said: “It’s time the Executive put their money where their mouth is.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. We all want to see improvements in the courts system — the question is whether this Lib-Lab Executive mean what they say.”

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