HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much additional funding has been allocated to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; how any such additional funding has been allocated between (1) criminal court services, (2) civil court services, and (3) tribunal services;  and how much of any such funding has been spent in each such area so far.


This question was answered on 25th February 2021

HM Courts and Tribunals Service has received an additional £150m funding in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic recovery funding covers the provision of additional PPE equipment and cleaning across the HMCTS estate; the provision of additional staffing and judicial resources; the provision of safety and security works; the provision of technology to enable remote hearings, and the provision of additional courtrooms, often referred to as ‘Nightingale Courts’.

Where possible, HMCTS has utilised existing baseline budgets to cover COVID-19 requirements. However, the main challenge throughout the pandemic has been the ability to operate the criminal courts, especially the safe and secure operation of Jury trials in a socially distanced environment, resulting in higher levels of expenditure, as outlined within the table below.

Jurisdiction – Full Year Allocation

£000’s

Criminal court services

72,365

Civil and Family court services

36,795

Tribunals

14,803

*Multi-jurisdiction & corporate Expenditure

26,037

Total

150,000

The latest reported spend to date as at 31 January 2021, by business area, is set out below.

Jurisdiction – Expenditure as at 31 January 2021

£000’s

Criminal court services

32,018

Civil and Family court services

19,486

Tribunals

6,275

*Multi-Jurisdiction & Corporate expenditure

19,036

Total

76,815

Continued high levels of COVID-19 response and recovery activity remains in place to enable HMCTS to actively respond to the challenges of delivering a safe and effective service during these challenging times.

These efforts will be bolstered by the £110m being invested into a range of measures to boost court recovery and the £337m Spending Review settlement to deliver speedier justice to convict offenders, support victims, and protect the wider public.

*Multi-jurisdiction & corporate expenditure includes services delivered on a national basis covering several business areas, for which a single jurisdiction is not identifiable within the financial system; examples include additional PPE, some IT costs and telephone conferencing expenditure.

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