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<p>HM Courts & Tribunals Service is committed to ensuring access to courts and
tribunals is maintained for staff and service users. We have a reasonable adjustments
policy in place to accommodate those with particular access requirements. Disabled
access was typically not factored in when many of our court and tribunal buildings
were built. However, we have a number of accessible courts that our criminal justice
partners are aware of, and these are used to list cases where a defendant might have
accessibility needs.</p><p> </p><p>The majority of our buildings were accessible to
the user groups listed during the period in question. Of the 56 total courts and tribunals
in London, only 7 were inaccessible to witnesses and members of the public during
the week commencing 6 May 2019, none were inaccessible to staff, whilst 26 were inaccessible
to one very specific user group with disabilities (defendants using custodial facilities).</p><p>
</p><p>2 of those buildings were temporarily inaccessible in that week because of
broken lifts, of which 2 were inaccessible for more than one month.</p><p> </p><p>We
aim to list cases at suitable venues when there are access needs. Where access issues
do arise various mitigations are explored, including video-conferencing from a remote
site, the use of judicial or staff lifts, or later start times for those who require
longer to travel to court.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2015/16, we have invested more than
£114m to improve court buildings and, in last year’s Budget, the Chancellor announced
an additional £15m to be spent on improving maintenance and security across the estate.</p>
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