Lord Gill has completed a lengthy review of the civil courts, with wide ranging and occasionally biting conclusions. Former Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson who commissioned the review urges the Holyrood Parliament to stand up, be counted and grasp the nettle of reform as Gill intended.

We are proud of Scots law and our independent legal system; but what is the point of that if the machinery of justice in Scotland does not work?” Those were Lord Gill’s words as he introduced his report at the launch of his civil court review.

No-one could accuse Lord Gill of pulling his punches when he introduced his report. We might then have expected a full gallery when Parliament debated the report, and MSPs queuing up to speak. We might question the wisdom of scheduling such an important debate when the end of term feeling was already upon us, and like me, many MSPs were still going through all 700 pages in detail.

When, as Minister for Justice, I commissioned the review, I did so because I was acutely aware of the types of failings that Lord Gill has pointed out. I wanted our civil courts to be reformed, first and foremost to improve access to justice. I wanted to ensure that cases were dealt with at the right level in the court system, and to speed up the process in the interests of the public, particularly in small claims cases, which involve small sums of money. I also wanted to ensure that despite the need to focus on speeding up the work of our criminal courts, civil cases would not be deprioritised, and I wanted to see more active management of cases as they progress through the courts.

I suspect that the scale of the reforms he has proposed will have been met by some in the legal system with sharp intakes of breath, shaking of heads and muttered warnings of the dire consequences of too much reform. The proposals are indeed extremely radical, but it is entirely possible to be radical and revolutionary and at the same time to be pragmatic and come up with something that works.

I hope that the wider debate does not follow the Parliamentary debate in polarising opinion between those who want the report to be adopted as a whole, and to wait until this is possible, and those who believe that there are certain issues that need to be progressed now.

In Parliament, I also I sounded a note of caution about the scale of the reforms. As someone who can claim more experience than most in taking legislation through Parliament, and in light of the reforms of our criminal justice system, I believe that taking forward the report will stretch beyond this Parliamentary session and possibly even the next, perhaps even to a time when neither the present Cabinet Secretary and I might not still be in Parliament.

Of course we need time to look at the report, but let us be sensible in quickly taking forward reforms which are practical and can be implemented now. If we can speed up the management of the courts, let us get on and do so. However, as a number of MSPs said in the debate, let us not simply look for the cheap options and try to put them in place. Instead, we should look for the sensible and smart options and get them under way.

Surely it is not too much to expect judges to explain themselves if they are unable to issue a judgment within three months of a case being concluded? There were concerns about costs, which are fundamental to access to justice. The report highlights that justice should not be just for those who can pay. We must look at how advice can be made available in a wider range of ways, with expansion of community law centres and in-court advice projects. Restricting the ability to litigate for people who continue to abuse the system will be welcomed by many people outside the legal world, who find it difficult to understand why some seem to be able to get constant access to the system while they cannot get access to justice for matters that affect them. In taking this forward, we must ensure that those who need access to the Courts are not denied justice.

Lord Gill’s Report was described as a “doorstop “ in an article in The Scotsman. Its scale and volume must not mean that we will do nothing. The recent parliamentary debate was the start of the next pahase of significant reform. We now need the Cabinet Secretary to come back to Parliament with a detailed plan which will move the process forward. Hopefully the next time we debate these important reforms, we might see a few more interested parties in the gallery!