Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Deferred
Paragraph: 34
Establish a new courts’ inspectorate to cover civil, family, and Coroners’ Courts.
Recommendation
We are concerned that at present there is a significant gap within the inspection regime in the justice system. For example, there is no inspectorate that covers the civil and family courts. Nor is there one in respect of Coroners’ Courts—indeed, our Report on the Coroner Service recommended that the Ministry of Justice should establish a dedicated Coroner Service inspectorate. A new courts’ inspectorate could also inspect Coroners’ Courts. Any courts’ inspectorate would have to respect judicial independence by focusing on the administration of the courts as opposed to substantive judicial decisions. It would also need to learn the lessons from the limitations of the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration.
Government Response Summary
The government did not address the recommendation for a new courts' inspectorate to cover gaps in the inspection regime. Instead, it provided an update on the Nightingale court programme and committed to a comprehensive evaluation of it by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.
Paragraph Reference:
34
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
Nightingale courts have been essential throughout the pandemic, providing much needed temporary capacity while social distancing measures were in place, ensuring delivery of justice continued. We have extended the use of 13 Nightingale court venues, providing 30 hearing rooms to support the Government’s target of reducing Crown case backlogs to 53,000 by 2024/25. We also set up a temporary venue to hold a large trial taking place in Walsall, that is expected to sit over a period of more than a year, avoiding disruption in the nearby Crown Court. We continue to evaluate the Nightingale court programme and will assess the need for temporary venues based on operational requirements. The Nightingale court programme has proven our ability to create suitable temporary court capacity at short notice to meet operational demand. We have already gathered and applied a range of important lessons that we have learnt from the Nightingale court programme. We commit to providing a comprehensive evaluation of the Nightingale court programme by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.