The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service statistical bulletin is published today providing quarterly Official Statistics on criminal case activity in Scotland. This bulletin covers the period Quarter 2 2023/24 (July - September).

The 22^nd QCC bulletin shows the continued impact of the recovery resources switch from summary to solemn that occurred on 1^st April 2023 to provide 2 additional High Court and 6 additional Sheriff Solemn trial courts. The number of Sheriff Solemn evidence led trials increased by 4%, indictments concluded rose by 6% and trials scheduled fell by 8% to 2,056 as at the end of September 2023 when compared to the previous quarter end.

Other highlights include:

• There were 23,283 first instance criminal cases registered in Scottish courts in Q2 2023/24, which is 3% higher than in Q1 2023/24. 
• The overall number of scheduled trials has fallen by 1% to 27,911 as at the end of September 2023 when compared to the previous quarter end (28,073).
• The number of Evidence led trials that called in Q2 2023/24 rose by 3% to 2,117 when compared to Q1 2023/24.
• The total number of cases concluded is 1% higher than in Q1 2023/24, with 22,479 cases concluded in Q2 2023/24.
• In Q2 2023/24 domestic abuse cases accounted for 29% of Sheriff Summary trials called and 32% of Sheriff Summary trials in which evidence was led.

Commenting on the bulletin SCTS Executive Director Court Operations, David Fraser, said:

“Given the progress made on the summary backlog, we switched court recovery resources from summary to solemn on 1st April 2023, with the introduction of 2 additional High Court and 6 additional Sheriff Solemn trial courts. The impact from the resource switch shows a continued increase in concluded solemn cases.

“Solemn cases, which involve the most serious crimes, are more challenging as the long term trend of increasing case levels continued throughout the pandemic. The switch shows that solemn throughput has increased significantly.

“Additionally, I am pleased to report that the number of JP Court scheduled trials has now fallen below pre-pandemic levels.

"Strong collaboration across the judiciary, justice organisations, the legal profession and the third sector is helping to effectively manage court business, this will become even more important now that the solemn recovery programme has been extended.