Courts
(asked on 30th October 2019) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) magistrates, (b) crown and (c) family courts which are scheduled to be sold are (i) still hearing cases and (ii) shut but yet to be sold.
The number of criminal or family courts that are currently operational and are scheduled to be disposed are as follows;
Magistrates’ courts | Crown courts | Family courts |
1 | 1 | 1 |
The number of criminal or family courts that are closed but are not yet disposed are as follows;
Magistrates’ courts | Crown courts | Family courts | Crown and county courts (combined courts) | Magistrates’ and family courts (combined Courts) |
7 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
The decision to close any court is not taken lightly – it only happens following full public consultation and only when effective access to justice can be maintained. Courts that have closed were either underused, dilapidated or too close to one another.
Since 2015/16 HMCTS has raised approximately £129m from the sale of surplus buildings to reinvest in the wider reform programme.