The Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 (Availability of Solicitors) Regulations 2001

Made17th December 2001

Laid before the Scottish Parliament18th December 2001

Coming into force6th February 2002

The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 31(9) and 36(1) and (2)(a) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 19861 and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement1

These Regulations may be cited as the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 (Availability of Solicitors) Regulations 2001 and shall come into force on 6th February 2002.

Availability of solicitors2

Where the Board arranges that a solicitor shall be available under section 31(8) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) 1986 for the purposes of providing assistance by way of representation to a person appearing in the proceedings described at regulation 3–

a

section 31(1) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986 shall not apply; and

b

assistance by way of representation shall be provided only by the solicitor so made available.

Categories of proceedings3

The proceedings described for the purposes of regulation 2 are–

a

proceedings under section 17 of the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 19812; and

b

proceedings under section 5 of the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 20013.

JAMES WALLACEA member of the Scottish ExecutiveSt Andrew’s House,Edinburgh17th December 2001

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide that where the Scottish Legal Aid Board makes a solicitor available to provide assistance by way of representation for certain proceedings in terms of section 31(8) of the Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1986, an assisted person may only be represented by that solicitor (regulation 2).

The Regulations apply to proceedings where a detained person appears before a sheriff under section 17 of the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 and section 5 of the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001.