Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Accepted in Part
Expensive Nightingale courts continue operating despite significant underuse of main estate.
Recommendation
MoJ told us that it has spent “a significant amount of money” on maintaining the court estate over the last two years.64 HMCTS told us that there is a significant maintenance backlog, but nevertheless assured us that the total capacity of Crown Court courtrooms is adequate for the current number of sitting days and is not a constraint on progressing cases through the Crown Court. It told us that only 2% of capacity is lost each year because of planned or unplanned maintenance, and, by moving cases around between courts, only 0.2% of sitting days are lost.65 HMCTS stated that at present there are 16 Nightingale courtrooms–temporary courtrooms set up during Covid–19 to meet social–distancing requirements and which are typically three times as expensive to run as existing courts– still operating across seven venues. However, it told us that the remaining Nightingale courts now compensate for court closures for other reasons, for example courts that have shut because they contain RAAC concrete.66 HMCTS told us of its continual efforts to shut expensive Nightingale courts 58 Qq 6 ,42, 46 59 Qq 12, 16; C&AG‘s Report, Figure 10 60 Q 18 61 Qq 17–21, 28 62 Qq 22–23 63 Q 22 64 Q 26 65 Qq 26–27, 73 66 Qq 65–68; Letter from HMCTS to PAC, 22 January 2025 18 and use the main estate instead, but we remain concerned that Nightingale courts are still operating when up to 20% of courtrooms are not in use on a typical day.67
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee's implied recommendation and is taking several specific actions, including increasing Crown Court sitting days, boosting maintenance funding, ongoing judicial recruitment, and increasing legal aid funding. However, they note that demand is so great these actions alone are insufficient and await recommendations from an Independent Review for substantial reform.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented: March 2025 1.2 The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is committed to bearing down on the Crown Court backlog and is delivering a wide range of work to achieve this: • Having increased magistrates’ court sentencing powers from 6 to 12 months for a single triable-either way offence; • Funding 110,000 Crown Court sitting days in 2025-26, the highest allocation ever provided and 4,000 more than originally allocated the previous financial year; • Boosting court maintenance funding to £148.5 million, the highest figure spent on maintenance and capital works in 10 years; • Ongoing judicial recruitment for 34 Circuit Judges, including 19 in Crime and up to 70 Recorders. Further recruitment will launch in 2025-26 for 55 Circuit Judges, including 45 in Crime. • Increasing criminal legal aid solicitors funding by £92 million per annum, subject to consultation; • Working with cross-system partners through the judiciary-led Criminal Courts Improvement Group to drive efficiencies across the criminal justice system (CJS); • Trialling a ‘Case Coordinator’ role in ten Crown Courts, aiming to improving adherence to the Better Case Management principles; • Funding vital victim and witness support services – over 2022-2025, the MoJ spent at least £460 million on victim support services, including on dedicated services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. 1.3 However, demand on the courts is now so great that these actions alone are not enough to reduce the outstanding caseload. 1.4 The system requires substantial reform, and the MoJ looks forward to receiving the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts’ recommendations on longer-term structural reform options in Spring 2025.