Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what methodology his Department uses to decide the (a) location of Nightingale courts and (b) type of cases each of those courts will hear.

Nightingale courts provide much needed additional capacity to hear face- to- face hearings in a Covid-safe environment, as part of a wider package of recovery measures that form our overall response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

When considering Nightingale courts, we assess where the need is greatest taking into account jurisdictional caseload, existing capacity and additional capacity measures such as plexiglass installations and modular temporary buildings; and then look for suitable venues in that location that can satisfy a number of specific requirements. These include accessibility, safety and security, length of hire, cost of provision and whether building works are required. Each venue is assessed for value for money before final decisions are made.

Nightingale courts have opened in every HMCTS region, hearing case types according to operational need, including Crown and Magistrates non-custodial cases as well as Civil and Family work. These venues help to free up more room in existing courts to hear other cases, such as custodial jury trials, which require cells and secure dock facilities to keep the public, victims and witnesses safe.

We are opening more Nightingale courtrooms and are on track to provide a total of 60 courtrooms across the estate by the end of March. We will continue to keep our recovery plans under close review to ensure that the geographic distribution of Nightingale courts meets our operational requirements.