Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases of covid-19 have been confirmed among jurors by court since 12 January 2021.

The table below sets out the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported to HMCTS among (a) staff, (b) judiciary, (c) users and (d) jurors between 12 January 2021 and 20 January 2021. The positive test data after the 20 January 2021 will be artificially low, due to the time taken for individuals to take a test, receive test results, and then communicate this to HMCTS (which is then recorded against the date initially reported). The table only includes court locations within the HMCTS estate where we have learnt about a new positive case within the dates given above. All other court sites have not reported any new cases between these dates. There should be no assumption that a positive case indicates that there has transmission within a court building.

The number of staff or court users who have tested positive recently is consistent with prevalence in the wider community. Furthermore, public health assessments indicate the vast majority of those infections took place in the community – not in our courts. However, we are not complacent and continue to rigorously apply the guidance provided by Public Health experts.

We follow all Public Health and Government COVID-secure guidelines and have put measures in place to keep all court and tribunal users safe. This is under constant review through our risk assessment process – when Government/Public Health guidance changes our measures are updated; an approach which is endorsed by Public Health England and Public Health Wales.

COVID cases in HMCTS are in line with national trends and public health experts have confirmed that our safety arrangements in courts are sufficient to deal with the virus, including the new strain.

Since the start of the pandemic, the positive incidence rate for HMCTS staff has generally tracked the English national average. With the exception of a very small number of locations, our current assessment is that transmission within the estate is limited. The public health advice is that transmission can be mitigated by robustly following hands-face-space guidance. Where transmission has been suspected, investigations conclude that it is likely to have been a result of individuals breaching this guidance.

HMCTS employs around 19,800 staff (payroll and non-payroll). There are around 19,400 judicial office holders covering all jurisdictions, including coroners and magistrates. For staff and agency staff in HMCTS as a whole (including tribunals), positive test rates are falling in line with national numbers. For the 7 days prior to the 20 January 2021, staff rates including tribunals were at 461.8 per 100,000 against a national figure of 390.5. Judicial rates continue to trend well below the national average at around 36.1 reported cases per 100,000.

The population of jurors fluctuates each week but we estimate around 4,000 jurors attend weekly.

National averages reduced rapidly during January and comparability with national statistics will be affected by our staff locations (staff are not evenly distributed across the country). However, overall, the numbers below are not dissimilar to national averages over the same time period.

We take swift and robust action for each positive case, looking to eliminate potential chains of transmission. Where there are two or more confirmed cases or an increase in suspected incidents within 14 days linked to a single site, a national team provides additional support and guidance to local court and tribunals in managing the response, and early identification of close contacts so they can be informed to self-isolate in support of NHS Test and Trace. Where there are five or more confirmed cases (for England and Wales) or two or more confirmed cases for Scotland within a 14-day period we will, in accordance with public health guidance, refer to local health protection teams who will assess the individual circumstances and provide any further advice and guidance.

Note that courts without any confirmed positive cases in the time period are not listed.