Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mohammad Yasin and Lucy Frazer

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

1. What assessment his Department has made of the effect of court closures on access to justice.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Lucy Frazer)]

We are looking at ways to improve our justice system and to modernise the delivery of justice in many ways, including with technology. In circumstances where 41% of tribunals were used at half their capacity in 2016-17, it is right that we consider whether spending money on the physical estate is the best use of money.

[Mohammad Yasin]

The Government like to say that they have reallocated court services rather than closed them, but Bedford has lost its magistrates court and employment tribunal court, so the public and lay members must travel more than 30 miles to access justice. Can the Minister reassure me that family court services, which are heard in the highly utilised ‎Shire Hall, will remain in Bedford indefinitely?

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Gentleman is right in relation to the changes taking place in Bedford to a certain extent, but I emphasise that the closure of the tribunal court is nothing to do with any changes being made by the Ministry of Justice or Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. The tribunal service is closing because the landlord did not extend the lease, and it was a decision of listing, which is a judicial capacity, to move the tribunal court’s hearings elsewhere. Civil cases will be heard in Bedford magistrates court, and until another location is found, it will not close.