Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of courts are currently working to full capacity.
HMCTS has implemented measures which mean that all of our courts and tribunals buildings have lower footfall than before the pandemic and are therefore operating at less than full capacity.
Our Organisational Risk Assessment sets out the suite of measures put in place to ensure our buildings remain safe for those who use them, and these measures have been developed with the endorsement of public health agencies. Key to these measures is social distancing which has been embedded across the HMCTS estate since the onset of COVID-19.
Adhering to social distancing has, necessarily, reduced the capacity in our court and tribunal buildings to manage and hear cases, because it inevitably restricts the number of people who can be safely accommodated across the various parts of each site. HMCTS has taken a number steps to minimise the impact of this on our ability to service access to justice needs, including the introduction of additional ‘Nightingale’ court venues to provide increased accommodation. They are used on a temporary basis to ensure as many hearings as possible can continue to take place during the COVID-19 outbreak.
As at 4th March, courtroom availability, split by HMCTS Region, is as follows
Region | Not Open | Open | Open (%) | Grand Total |
London | 196 | 509 | 72% | 705 |
Midlands | 103 | 339 | 76% | 442 |
North East | 98 | 313 | 76% | 411 |
North West | 64 | 334 | 83% | 398 |
Scotland | 33 | 35 | 51% | 68 |
South East | 37 | 404 | 91% | 441 |
South West | 18 | 238 | 92% | 256 |
Wales | 9 | 141 | 94% | 150 |
Grand Total | 558 | 2313 | 80% | 2871 |