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 Answer of 24 February 2015 to Question 225118, what progress the court reform programme has made in the rebuilding of Sunderland Court.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Pursuant to the answer of 24 February 2015 to Question 225118, Ministers are reviewing the court reform programme and announcements will be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2015 to Question 225118, what the stages of the court reform programme are; and when his Department plans to finalise the resource allocation for each such stage.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The stages of the Reform Programme will be subject to ongoing refinement through to summer 2015. The resource allocation for each stage will be developed as this planning progresses.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to his Answer of 13 January 2015 to Question 217622, what the resource requirements are for each planned stage of the court reform programme; what the planned (a) start and (b) finish time is for each stage of the programme; and what the planned staff allocation is for each planned stage of the programme.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Planning for the stages of the programme, which spans five years, is underway and will be subject to ongoing refinement through the mobilisation phase up to Summer 2015. The resource requirement for these stages has not yet been finalised and will be developed as part of the ongoing planning.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 215339, how many staff of (a) his Department and (b) external contractors are working on the detailed planning of the court reform programme.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Resourcing for the HMCTS Reform Programme is appropriate for the stage the programme is at. A full resourcing plan is being developed as one of the components of the overall planning currently being undertaken, ahead of full programme mobilising in spring 2015. Current resourcing is allocated from across a number of different areas of MoJ and varies depending on the tasks the Programme is engaged in. External support for the programme is provided via a procured contractual package.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2014 to Question 215302, whether he plans to commission external (a) consultants and (b) accountants to plan the five year investment.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Reform Programme is led by officials in HMCTS, but will draw on specialist external resource where necessary, to allow the department to effectively plan and deliver the programme. This will ensure that we deliver the best possible value for money from the investment, on behalf of the taxpayer.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2014 to Question 214230, which courts he believes to be over 100 years old.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
Further to the answer the Minister for the Courts and Legal Aid gave the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South on 18 November 2014, information on the Department’s HMCTS properties is currently being validated. A list of Courts believed to be over 100 years old will be provided as soon as this work has been completed.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many officials in his Department are assigned to the court reform programme.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Detailed planning is currently being undertaken to ensure that the Reform programme is effectively resourced to enable the programme to deliver its objectives, ahead of programme initiation in spring 2015.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2014 to Question 209524, on courts: buildings, what his Department plans to spend on the package of investment in each of the last five years from 2015-16.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Detailed planning is currently being undertaken on how the Treasury funds will be deployed for investment across the courts and tribunals estate, technology and other areas in each of the five years from 2015-16.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209520, how many representations he has received on the court reform programme.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Officials have been engaging with a range of partners and stakeholders throughout the course of the Programme to develop proposals for the HMCTS Reform programme. This has included regular meetings with other government departments and the senior judiciary.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2014 to Question 207412, if he will place in the Library the plans, blueprints and all associated documents relating to the purchase of land and the construction of a new court for Sunderland.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Any work undertaken by the appointed concept designer for architectural design services under the previous government would not necessarily be representative of any future court estate development and as a consequence I do not propose to place those plans in the Library of the House.
Publically available information about the purchase of the land is available from the Land Registry.