Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 3
Sixth report - Court capacity
Published 27 Apr 2022
Paragraph 15
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Court Capacity All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government should develop and deliver a comprehensive plan to improve the quality of the court estate, which is funded on a multi-year basis. The plan should identify solutions for delivering essential maintenance without reducing physical capacity. It should also set out a long-term strategy for improving the court estate so that it provides a proper and acceptable environment for all its users. The Government has shown through the use of Nightingale Courts that temporary courtrooms can be made operational if required and, if necessary, this model should be used to enable permanent buildings to undergo essential work.
From: Justice Committee, Sixth report - Court capacity (HC 69), paragraph 15, 27 April 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 July 2022 (deadline 27 June 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says the Ministry of Justice and HMCTS "will continue to work alongside the judiciary" to keep courts at full capacity and reduce the outstanding caseload.
- On a Courts' Inspectorate, the government does not re-establish one, saying this "would require significant long-term resourcing which we are not currently set up to deliver". It has "committed to further considering" a Coroner Service Inspectorate.
- On Crown Court recovery, it states it is providing an extra £477 million over three years, aiming to reduce the backlog to "an estimated 53,000 cases by March 2025". It describes its plan as "ambitious" and says future years are "subject to Spending Reviews".
- It commits to providing a comprehensive evaluation of the Nightingale court programme "by the end of the 2022/23 financial year", and aims to publish a section 28 process evaluation "in the autumn".
- On a Royal Commission, it recognises the opportunity but is "now taking the time to consider where a Royal Commission will add the most value". It states the HMCTS reform programme "is on track to complete by December 2023 as planned".