Courts: Coronavirus
(asked on 5th March 2021) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Nightingale (a) courts and (b) courtrooms are operating by region.
As at 8 March, there are 24 Nightingale venues in operation, providing a total of 49 hearing rooms. The table below provides a breakdown by region.
HMCTS region | Number of operational Nightingale court venues | Courtrooms provided |
London | 3 | 9 |
Midlands | 4 | 11 |
North East | 5 | 6 |
North West | 6 | 13 |
South East | 1 | 1 |
South West | 4 | 8 |
Wales | 1 | 1 |
We are opening more Nightingale courtrooms and are on track to provide a total of 60 courtrooms by the end of March.
Recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is our top priority. Nightingale courts have opened in every HMCTS region, capable of hearing a range of case types, including trials, for defendants who are on bail. 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 will continue to keep our recovery plans under close review to ensure that the geographic distribution of Nightingale courts meets our operational requirements.