Courts: Coronavirus

(asked on 28th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the announcement of 21 September 2020 entitled Eight more Nightingale Courts to deliver justice, when those courts will be operating at full capacity; if he will publish the ongoing costs for each of those locations; and when more nightingale courts will be operational.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 6th October 2020

The dates on which the additional eight Nightingale courts will be open are as follows:

Nightingale court

Opening dates

Salford – Lowry Theatre

28/09/20

York – Hilton Hotel

29/09/20

Middlesbrough – Jury’s Inn

30/09/20

Bristol

w/c 12/10/20

Chester

w/c 19/10/20

Liverpool

w/c 19/10/20

Winchester

w/c 26/10/20

Cirencester

To be confirmed

These additional hearing venues are being rapidly set up to alleviate the pressure on courts and tribunals resulting from the pandemic and as such we are aiming to list cases to the maximum capacity.

The Nightingale courts announced to date will have an overall cost at the end of the financial year of £10m, excluding judicial costs. This covers both set up cost – including the cost of IT and video equipment, furniture, porterage, enabling works to prepare a site, and other costs such as security equipment - as well as ongoing running costs at each venue which reflect local commercial agreements. We are assessing further potential Nightingale court sites and announcements will be made in due course.

HMCTS has published an update on their response to covid-19 in the criminal courts in England and Wales (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/court-and-tribunal-recovery-update-in-response-to-coronavirus). This provides a comprehensive update on recovery plans and includes details about Nightingale courts.

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