Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice on 11 December 2017, what the timetable is for the closure of the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service is improving its court and tribunal estate in Sunderland. Work is underway to accommodate tribunal, family and criminal work at the magistrates’ court building. There are no plans in place to close the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice on 11 December 2017, what the timetable is for the closure of the Sunderland County Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Work to integrate Sunderland County Court into Sunderland Magistrates’ Court is expected to be completed by the end of May 2018. The Sunderland County Court building will be closed once the integration is complete.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice on 11 December 2017, whether a decision has been made on the future of Sunderland Court Estate.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service currently has no plans to alter any arrangements regarding the future of the Sunderland court estate.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice on 11 December 2017, whether he has plans to integrate Social Security and Child Support Tribunal services into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Social Security and Child Support Tribunal appeal hearings will be integrated into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building by the end of March 2018.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice of 11 December 2017, what estimate he has made of the cost of the proposals to integrate Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has estimated that the cost of integrating Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building will be approximately £284,000.
Work to integrate the County Court into the Magistrates’ Court is expected to be completed by May 2018.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice of 11 December 2017, what the time-scale is for implementation of the proposals to integrate Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has estimated that the cost of integrating Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building will be approximately £284,000.
Work to integrate the County Court into the Magistrates’ Court is expected to be completed by May 2018.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice of 11 December 2017, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposals to integrate Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building on the daily business of both courts.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The effective operation and continuity of court business was a primary consideration in developing plans for the integration of the court buildings. The integration will not interfere with the current criminal sitting pattern determined in October 2017 following a public listing consultation. Measures are being taken to ensure sufficient capacity at the site, with enabling works staggered to avoid disruption to people using the court. Integration of the courts into one building will improve court room utilisation and the operational efficiency of the court estate in Sunderland.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice of 11 December 2017, if he will publish the deliberations of HM Courts and Tribunals Service Property Board that resulted in the approval of proposals to integrate Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not publish the minutes of the Property Board.
I will ask my office to make arrangements to schedule a meeting with the Hon. Members for Houghton and Sunderland South and Sunderland Central.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice of 11 December 2017, to what extent HM Courts and Tribunals Service consulted with (a) local residents, (b) the judiciary and (c) Northumbria Police before approving proposals to integrate Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The proposal to integrate Sunderland County Court into the Sunderland Magistrates’ Court building was not subject to public consultation since it did not require the transfer of work outside of the local area.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service engaged with the judiciary at a very early stage in the process and before plans were approved. Members of the local judiciary are members of the Local Implementation Team which will oversee the integration.
The Police do not use the County Court building and were therefore not involved in discussions prior to the plans being approved. They will be notified about the integration in writing along with other magistrates’ courts stakeholders in February 2018.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central from the former Minister of State for Courts and Justice of 11 December 2017, if he will meet the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland and the hon. Member for Sunderland Central to discuss the future of the Sunderland Court Estate.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not publish the minutes of the Property Board.
I will ask my office to make arrangements to schedule a meeting with the Hon. Members for Houghton and Sunderland South and Sunderland Central.