Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many closed magistrates' courts has his Department considered using as Nightingale courts.

HMCTS considered over 20 former magistrates’ court buildings for potential use as temporary Nightingale courts. These were courts which either HMCTS still owned, or where the new owners had not yet redeveloped the building.

Social distancing rules severely restricted our ability to carry out face-to-face hearings. In response, one of our recovery measures was to establish Nightingale courts that could meet social distancing requirements. Nightingale courts have proven to be essential to supporting the justice system throughout the pandemic.

Nightingale courts are large courts, designed to operate with safe social distancing in place. Few, if any, of our former magistrates’ courts were large enough to meet this requirement. Nightingale courts have been set up in locations where there is an operational need, with a particular focus on enabling Crown Court jury trials to maximise our recovery plans. Very few former magistrates’ courts were able to meet our requirements and would have required significant investment and time to complete the necessary works before the court could become operational.