Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the permanent closure of courts since 2010 on trends in the level of the backlog of court cases.

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.

The pandemic caused significant disruption to the justice system and caused the outstanding caseload to build up. In the Criminal courts this was further impacted by the Criminal Bar Association disruptive action. Prior to the pandemic the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court had reduced significantly from 46,100 in 2010 to 38,300 in 2019.

To ensure that courts can work at full capacity to deliver swift justice for victims and reduce the outstanding caseload we have extended 30 Nightingale courtrooms beyond the end of March 2022 and opened two new super courtrooms in Manchester and Loughborough.

We continue to monitor operational needs across the estate and will ensure there is always capacity to hear cases and deliver justice.