Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 1
1
Accepted
Paragraph: 10
Nightingale Courts made a major contribution to increasing court capacity during pandemic.
Conclusion
HMCTS deserve praise for delivering the Nightingale Court project. The project made a major contribution to increasing the capacity of the courts during the pandemic.
Government Response Summary
The government committed to implementing a medium-term maintenance programme for the court estate with multi-year funding and has a planned pipeline of future works. It will continue to seek further funding and consider alternative solutions like temporary venues for repairs.
Paragraph Reference:
10
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We recognise that maintenance works are needed across our Estate. The recent Spending Review settlement provides multi-year funding to enable a medium-term maintenance programme to be implemented. We have a planned pipeline of future works to improve the resilience and quality of the court estate, and this is kept under regular review. Our strategy is to continue to seek further funding to improve the overall condition of the court and tribunal estate and reduce the risk of building failure. Our investment is prioritised towards courts and jurisdictions where it is needed most, by making sure that buildings are safe, secure, meet statutory requirements and protect continuity of service. Preventive maintenance is undertaken by our FM providers, to make sure that faults are quickly rectified and to provide early warning where equipment is beyond economic repair. Where improvement works or repairs cannot be undertaken without serious impact on hearings, we will consider alternative solutions, including the use of spare capacity in our core estate, the use of remote technology, and the use of temporary venues if there is a value-for-money case. Enhancing Court Capacity—Digital Capacity