Courts and Tribunals: Coronavirus

(asked on 5th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2021 to Question 148977, Courts: Coronavirus, what limits have been placed on the number of people allowed in (a) courts and (b) tribunals, broken down by building.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 10th March 2021

The safety of those using our buildings is paramount. We continue to work with public health organisations to develop, review and entrench our safeguards, and we have a transparent framework in place to ensure these safeguards are followed.

The hands/face/space measures are crucial. Insofar as ‘space’ is concerned, social distancing is the central control. In order to ensure that social distancing protocols are being adhered to within our buildings, HMCTS has in place measures to limit the flow of people into (and within) buildings at any one time. This is to ensure both the safety and appropriate use of buildings whilst continuing to enable access to justice, for those who need it. There is no maximum numeric occupancy ‘cap’ for particular buildings, as such. Court and tribunal buildings are complex structures, with various component sections, each able to accommodate safely different numbers at different times. A numeric cap would be an unduly simplistic instrument to control something which is necessarily more complicated. It would do nothing, for example, to mitigate the risk of individuals congregating or converging in a particular area of the building which could breach social distancing protocol but within the notional building limit.

Since the way we use our buildings varies from site to site, and each building is unique in its layout, structure and size, occupancy levels are managed and determined locally. This is achieved through continuous dynamic assessments by local managers in consultation with the site security supervisor and Court/Tribunal Security Officers (C/TSOs).

Limiting the number of people entering buildings at any one time is a control deployed as necessary. We have also introduced one way systems, within our buildings, to limit footfall; as well as measures such as occupancy limits for particular rooms or areas. This is monitored throughout each day, including through the deployment of marshals.

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