Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968

Section 53.

SCHEDULE 4 Amendment of [1967 c. 43.] Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 1967

1 In section 1, in subsection (6), for the words " any civil proceedings " there shall be substituted the words " civil proceedings other than the proceedings mentioned in the next following subsection ", and at the end of that subsection there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(6A) A child or his parent shall not be given legal aid in connection with any proceedings before the sheriff or on any subsequent appeal to the Court of Session, being proceedings in respect of a decision of a children's hearing or of an application to the sheriff for a finding under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, unless—

(a) he is entitled to receive such aid by virtue of subsection (5A) of the next following section ; or

(b) the sheriff, in respect of proceedings before him, is satisfied that the giving of legal aid is necessary in the interests of the child and grants a legal aid certificate ; or

(c) it appears, in respect of an appeal to the Court of Session, that the child or his parent has substantial grounds for making the appeal and that it is reasonable that the child or his parent should receive legal aid in the particular circumstances of the case”.

2 (1) In section 2(1), after the words " civil proceedings " there shall be inserted the words " , other than proceedings mentioned in subsection (6A) of the foregoing section " and after the words " refused legal aid " there shall be inserted the words " in respect of such proceedings first mentioned ".

(2) In subsection (2), for the words from " in connection with " to the end of the subsection there shall be substituted the words—

“shall be available in connection with—

(a) criminal proceedings, to an accused person, and

(b) the civil proceedings mentioned in subsection (6A) of the foregoing section, to the child or his parent,

where the court is satisfied after consideration of the financial circumstances of the accused or, as the case may be, of the child and his parent that the expenses of the case cannot be met without undue hardship to the accused or his dependants or, as the case may be, to the child or his parent, or the dependants of either”.

(3) In subsection (3), at the end there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(e) in relation to civil proceedings mentioned in the said subsection (6A) the sheriff”.

(4) In subsection (4), at the end there shall be added the following paragraphs—

“(c) in any case the sheriff has made legal aid available to a child or his parent in the civil proceedings mentioned in the said subsection (6A), the child, or, as the case may be, his parent, shall continue to be regarded as financially eligible for legal aid in connection with any subsequent proceedings on appeal to the sheriff or to the Court of Session or on remit from that Court;

(d) legal aid has not been made available to a child or his parent in such civil proceedings as aforesaid, and his case comes before the Court of Session, legal aid shall be available to him if that Court is satisfied of his financial eligibility as aforesaid.”.

(5) After subsection (5), there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(5A) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act relating to legal aid in civil proceedings, such aid shall be available to a child or his parent without enquiry into his resources in any appeal under Part III of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 by the child or parent against the child's detention in a place of safety while awaiting disposal of his case by a children's hearing.”

(6) In subsection (6), at the end of the subsection there shall be added the following words " ; but the provisions of paragraphs (c), (d) and (e) of this subsection and the next following subsection shall not apply to the civil proceedings mentioned in subsection (6A) of the foregoing section or in subsection (5A) of this section ".

3 In section 20(1), after the word "requires—" there shall be inserted the following definition—

• “the expression ' child ' has the same meaning as in Part III of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 ;”and

after the definition of " member of the forces ", there shall be inserted the following definition—

• “" the expression ' parent' has the same meaning as in Part III of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968”.