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1464206

registered interest
date	18/05/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which Nightingale Courtrooms have been extended to 28 March 2023.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	4573
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2022 answer text <p>On 3 March 2022, HMCTS confirmed the extension of our tenure of 13 Nightingale court venues. This equates to 30 extra courtrooms to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on the justice system and secure speedier justice for victims.</p><p> </p><p>The table below outlines each of the Nightingale court venues that were extended, all of which were extended to the end of March 2023 with the exception of two venues which are annotated within the table.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Nightingale Court</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of courtrooms</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Barbican - London</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Croydon Jurys Inn - London</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Grand Connaught Rooms - London</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Prospero House – London (contracted until 31/12/2022)</p></td><td><p>Three Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cloth Hall Court – North East</p></td><td><p>Three Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Swansea Civic Centre - Wales</p></td><td><p>One Crown court room</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Former magistrates’ court Fleetwood – North West</p></td><td><p>Two civil court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Chichester - former combined court – South East</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maidstone Mercure – South East</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cirencester - former magistrates’ court – South West</p></td><td><p>One Crown court room, one Magistrates rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maple House, Birmingham – Midlands (contracted until 31/12/2022)</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms and two civil and family court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Telford - former county court – Midlands</p></td><td><p>Three civil and family court rooms</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wolverhampton Park Hall Hotel - Midlands</p></td><td><p>Two Crown court rooms</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 23/05/2022 15:09:17 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1420882

registered interest
date	08/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for how long each existing Nightingale court is contracted to stay open.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	120750
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p>HMCTS establishes temporary ‘Nightingale Courts’ where we identify a need for additional temporary capacity for hearing court and tribunal cases. There are currently 50 rooms across 23 sites, of which 32 are Crown jury trial rooms.</p><p> </p><p>As COVID safety measures change we have been able to bring additional hearing rooms in our permanent estate back into use, which has reduced the need for Nightingale courts. We now have over 470 Crown courtrooms available, which is comparable to pre-pandemic levels.</p><p> </p><p>An update on the future use of Nightingale Courts will be provided in due course.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge grouped question UIN 120754 question first answered 21/02/2022 10:06:26 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1420885

registered interest
date	08/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has spent on each existing Nightingale court.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	120753
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p>The table below provides a list of the total expenditure on each existing Nightingale court, as at 31 January 2022. The figures include running cost, such as venue hire, security, and cleaning, as well as set-up costs such as enabling works and IT hardware, but do not include staff, judicial or court costs.</p><p> </p><p>Nightingale courts have been essential in keeping the wheels of justice turning throughout the pandemic when social distancing severely restricted our ability to carry out face-to-face hearings.</p><p> </p><p>We have worked hard to keep costs as low as possible and continue to make sure that these temporary venues are providing best value for money.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Existing Nightingale court</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Hearing rooms</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total spend up to 31 January 2022</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Barbican – London</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£2,822,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Birmingham, Maple House – Midlands</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>£2,751,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Chichester - former court – South East</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£773,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Chester Crowne Plaza – North West</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£1,082,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cirencester, former Magistrates’ Court – South West</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£420,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cloth Hall Court – North East</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>£810,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Croydon Jurys Inn – London</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£1,142,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Fleetwood, former Magistrates’ Court – North West</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£376,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Liverpool, Hilton Hotel – North West</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>£1,544,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maidstone – Mercure – South East</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£1,190,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Manchester, Hilton Hotel – North West</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£2,255,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Middlesbrough, Jury's Inn Hotel – North East</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£862,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Monument – London</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£2,089,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>M40 J15 The Warwick Hotel - Midlands</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£1,626,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nottingham, Mercure – Midlands</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£1,414,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>102 Petty France – London</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>£488,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Peterborough – South East</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>£831,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Prospero House – London</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>£6,813,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Swansea Civic Centre - Wales</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>£657,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Telford, Former County Court - Midlands</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>£638,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>University of Bolton FC – North West</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>£845,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Winchester, The Guildhall – South West</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>£1,025,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wolverhampton, Park Hall Hotel – Midlands</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>£2,208,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>50</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>£34,661,000</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 21/02/2022 10:15:02 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1420890

registered interest
date	08/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his plans are for the future of each of the Nightingale courts; and whether he has plans to open more Nightingale courts.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	120754
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2022 answer text <p>HMCTS establishes temporary ‘Nightingale Courts’ where we identify a need for additional temporary capacity for hearing court and tribunal cases. There are currently 50 rooms across 23 sites, of which 32 are Crown jury trial rooms.</p><p> </p><p>As COVID safety measures change we have been able to bring additional hearing rooms in our permanent estate back into use, which has reduced the need for Nightingale courts. We now have over 470 Crown courtrooms available, which is comparable to pre-pandemic levels.</p><p> </p><p>An update on the future use of Nightingale Courts will be provided in due course.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge grouped question UIN 120750 question first answered 21/02/2022 10:06:26 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1386452

registered interest
date	08/12/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide extra Nightingale court capacity in order to address the backlog of legal cases.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL4811
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/12/2021 answer text <p>As part of the Spending Review we announced that we will be investing £477 million in the Criminal Justice System over the next three years. This will help to meet the increased demand from the additional police officers, reduce the backlog and deliver the swift access to justice that victims deserve.</p><p> </p><p>Analysis suggests this new investment could both improve waiting times and significantly reduce the number of outstanding cases by the end of the spending review period, ensuring that we do right by victims of crime.</p><p> </p><p>The Ministry of Justice and HM Courts and Tribunals Service are working together to determine the optimal allocation of funding secured at the Spending Review for 2022/23 and beyond, including the spend on physical capacity to support the continuing recovery of court performance. This process is set to conclude in early 2022.</p><p> </p><p>Our decisive action in the courts kept justice moving during the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>We allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds to support recovery in the last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff, and opening Nightingale courtrooms, including retaining 32 Crown jury courtrooms until the end of March 2022.</p><p> </p><p>These measures are already working. The caseload in the Crown court has stabilised at around 60,000 cases, and we are listing over a thousand cases each week.</p> answering member printed Lord Wolfson of Tredegar question first answered 22/12/2021 15:43:48 answering member 4901 label Biography information for Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1357153

registered interest
date	21/09/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of resources available to effectively tackle court backlogs in the recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Wolverhampton South West
tabling member printed	Stuart Anderson
uin	52600
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/09/2021 answer text <p>We have taken decisive action to ensure the courts have sufficient resources to tackle our outstanding caseloads in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.</p><p>We spent over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings and recruiting an additional 1,600 HMCTS staff. We will run each Crown Court site to its fullest, with no limit on sitting days this financial year, so more cases can be heard and waiting times can come down. Following the lifting of social distancing restrictions, we are in the process of fully reopening our existing physical estate. We have also extended 32 of our Nightingale courtrooms until March 2022 to maximise our sitting capacity this year.</p> answering member constituency South Suffolk answering member printed James Cartlidge question first answered 29/09/2021 11:37:41 answering member 4519 label Biography information for James Cartlidge
tabling member	4742 label Biography information for Stuart Anderson

1349580

registered interest
date	22/07/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the consequences are for a (a) witness, (b) defendant, (c) complainant, (d) juror, (e) judicial office holder, (f) court employee and (g) visiting member of the public who does not wear a face mask in accordance with the mandatory covid-19 face covering policy in place from 19 July 2021.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	38195
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2021 answer text <p>The relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions across respective parts of Great Britain this summer has allowed courts and tribunals to operate more flexibly, and so increasingly efficiently. But notwithstanding the success of the Government’s vaccine rollout, some safety measures must continue to remain in place.</p><p>There has never been a legal requirement to wear face coverings in a court or tribunal building. Regulations on the wearing of face coverings in place before 19 July in England, imposing criminal sanctions backed by appropriate enforcement powers, applied only in prescribed sectors like retail and transport. However, Public Health guidance has for some time made clear the benefits associated with face coverings, which other sectors have been encouraged to follow. Face coverings can help to minimise exposure to the virus, and therefore reduce the risk of transmission. Accordingly, and alongside a range of other measures embedded to manage Covid risks, in July 2020 HM Courts and Tribunals Service introduced a policy asking that face coverings be worn (unless exempt) across its estate, for the reasons set out in its <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1012423/HMCTS589_Organisational_Risk_Assessment_A4L_Aug21_v1.pdf" target="_blank">Organisational Risk Assessment</a>.</p><p>Given the lack of any prescribed legal requirement to wear face coverings in court and tribunal buildings, the compliance and enforcement options open to HMCTS before the 19th July are essentially the same as those after 19<sup>th</sup> July. In determining its policy, HMCTS has considered a range of factors, including the clear balance to be struck between ensuring reasonable compliance of the policy on face coverings, and not damaging the efficacy of proceedings before the court (for example, allowing those who are legally compelled to attend court to avoid that appearance by refusing to wear a covering).</p><p>Insofar as members of staff are concerned, HMCTS employees will continue to be required to wear face coverings in court and tribunal buildings, unless exemptions apply. All HMCTS employees have an obligation to follow HR policies. The consequences of non-compliance would be dealt with, as appropriate, under usual personnel management procedures. Members of the judiciary are similarly asked to wear face coverings in certain areas of court and tribunal buildings (not including, for example, whilst presiding in hearing rooms). Any compliance issues would be a matter for the leadership judiciary, not HMCTS.</p><p>For court and tribunal users including parties, witnesses, jurors, and members of the public, Court and Tribunal Security Officers (CTSOs) will ask that face coverings are worn upon entry into the buildings and will provide free face coverings if needed. Signage around the buildings make clear where face coverings are to be worn. Ultimately, under the Courts Act 2003 section 53, CTSOs have the power to exclude or remove any person from a building for the purposes of securing the safety of those in the building – which includes for these purposes considering non-compliance with reasonable requests in respect of face coverings introduced and maintained in line with prevailing Public Health guidance. In assessing the need for (and proportionality of) deploying those exclusion/removal powers, CTSOs (acting in consultation with HMCTS managers and the judiciary as necessary) will have regard to the balance between furthering public safety, and ensuring the ongoing efficacy of proceedings, as described above.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 10/09/2021 12:25:40 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

1311471

registered interest
date	22/04/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of facilities for lawyers to safely see their clients at courts during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	185873
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2021 answer text <p>HMCTS buildings are COVID-secure and we continuously monitor and review our guidance and practices to ensure that we are complying with the latest public health advice. There is an ongoing dialogue with legal professionals at all levels to allow them to feed into this process. Where there are concerns about capacity legal professionals can raise this locally, regionally or nationally. For staff and agency staff in HMCTS as a whole (including tribunals), positive test rates are falling in line with national numbers. The incident rate amongst staff is trending around the national average.</p><p> </p><p>The HMCTS Organisational Risk Assessment sets out the suite of measures put in place to ensure our buildings remain safe for those who use them, and these measures have been developed with the endorsement of public health agencies. All court and tribunal buildings are individually risk assessed – at least weekly – to make sure they continue to meet public health guidelines. These assessments include the spaces for lawyers to safely see their clients. A copy of the court assessment can be obtained from the senior person on site.</p><p> </p><p>Where it has been assessed as safe to do so, rooms within a court building suitable for private consultations are open. These rooms can be identified by posters on the doors, which confirm the maximum capacity and safety measures to be followed. More rooms will open once the Government’s review on social distancing measures and public health advice allows this to happen safely.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to mobile units, HMCTS has prioritised the available space on its estate to house portable cabins to increase the ability to conduct more jury trials. The cabins are used by jurors who are safely marshalled, to limit transmission risk, between the cabin and court room. HMCTS will continue to prioritise the use of cabins in this way as part of a wider package of recovery measures, such as the use of Nightingale courts, that form its overall response to the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>Both HMCTS and HMPPS have taken action to provide measures to keep consolations with defendants in custody as safe as possible. Since the start of the pandemic, HMPPS took urgent action to enable the criminal justice system (CJS) to continue running by enabling CJS professionals to consult defendants in custody by video. First, it enabled secure remote access to the previously closed prison–to–court video links by deploying over 900 cloud video platform video meeting rooms. HMPPS then increased physical video capacity by over 50% in prisons with a remand function and by over 77% across the wider custodial estate. To date, 371 new video points have been installed, with further installations planned in the coming weeks. In addition, prisons with a remand function were asked to extend their video operating hours.</p><p> </p><p>There will be occasions when lawyers must meet their clients in the court cells. HMCTS works closely with the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS), who have the responsibility to risk assess the custody areas, to keep the same level of safety maintained throughout the court building. As public health advice changes, PECS review, assess and adapt their risk assessments accordingly to ensure that the custody suite remains safe. This ensures transmission risk is kept to a minimum during client consultations and the transfer of prisoners from cells to the court room. HMCTS will record, on its site-specific risk assessment, any safety concern identified by PECS and the action taken to resolve.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 185874 185875 question first answered 27/04/2021 16:38:34 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1311472

registered interest
date	22/04/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has considered the potential merits of using mobile units at courts to allow lawyers to meet their clients in a safe environment during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	185874
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2021 answer text <p>HMCTS buildings are COVID-secure and we continuously monitor and review our guidance and practices to ensure that we are complying with the latest public health advice. There is an ongoing dialogue with legal professionals at all levels to allow them to feed into this process. Where there are concerns about capacity legal professionals can raise this locally, regionally or nationally. For staff and agency staff in HMCTS as a whole (including tribunals), positive test rates are falling in line with national numbers. The incident rate amongst staff is trending around the national average.</p><p> </p><p>The HMCTS Organisational Risk Assessment sets out the suite of measures put in place to ensure our buildings remain safe for those who use them, and these measures have been developed with the endorsement of public health agencies. All court and tribunal buildings are individually risk assessed – at least weekly – to make sure they continue to meet public health guidelines. These assessments include the spaces for lawyers to safely see their clients. A copy of the court assessment can be obtained from the senior person on site.</p><p> </p><p>Where it has been assessed as safe to do so, rooms within a court building suitable for private consultations are open. These rooms can be identified by posters on the doors, which confirm the maximum capacity and safety measures to be followed. More rooms will open once the Government’s review on social distancing measures and public health advice allows this to happen safely.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to mobile units, HMCTS has prioritised the available space on its estate to house portable cabins to increase the ability to conduct more jury trials. The cabins are used by jurors who are safely marshalled, to limit transmission risk, between the cabin and court room. HMCTS will continue to prioritise the use of cabins in this way as part of a wider package of recovery measures, such as the use of Nightingale courts, that form its overall response to the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>Both HMCTS and HMPPS have taken action to provide measures to keep consolations with defendants in custody as safe as possible. Since the start of the pandemic, HMPPS took urgent action to enable the criminal justice system (CJS) to continue running by enabling CJS professionals to consult defendants in custody by video. First, it enabled secure remote access to the previously closed prison–to–court video links by deploying over 900 cloud video platform video meeting rooms. HMPPS then increased physical video capacity by over 50% in prisons with a remand function and by over 77% across the wider custodial estate. To date, 371 new video points have been installed, with further installations planned in the coming weeks. In addition, prisons with a remand function were asked to extend their video operating hours.</p><p> </p><p>There will be occasions when lawyers must meet their clients in the court cells. HMCTS works closely with the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS), who have the responsibility to risk assess the custody areas, to keep the same level of safety maintained throughout the court building. As public health advice changes, PECS review, assess and adapt their risk assessments accordingly to ensure that the custody suite remains safe. This ensures transmission risk is kept to a minimum during client consultations and the transfer of prisoners from cells to the court room. HMCTS will record, on its site-specific risk assessment, any safety concern identified by PECS and the action taken to resolve.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 185873 185875 question first answered 27/04/2021 16:38:34 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1311473

registered interest
date	22/04/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Courts: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the safety of court cells for lawyers to meet clients during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	185875
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2021 answer text <p>HMCTS buildings are COVID-secure and we continuously monitor and review our guidance and practices to ensure that we are complying with the latest public health advice. There is an ongoing dialogue with legal professionals at all levels to allow them to feed into this process. Where there are concerns about capacity legal professionals can raise this locally, regionally or nationally. For staff and agency staff in HMCTS as a whole (including tribunals), positive test rates are falling in line with national numbers. The incident rate amongst staff is trending around the national average.</p><p> </p><p>The HMCTS Organisational Risk Assessment sets out the suite of measures put in place to ensure our buildings remain safe for those who use them, and these measures have been developed with the endorsement of public health agencies. All court and tribunal buildings are individually risk assessed – at least weekly – to make sure they continue to meet public health guidelines. These assessments include the spaces for lawyers to safely see their clients. A copy of the court assessment can be obtained from the senior person on site.</p><p> </p><p>Where it has been assessed as safe to do so, rooms within a court building suitable for private consultations are open. These rooms can be identified by posters on the doors, which confirm the maximum capacity and safety measures to be followed. More rooms will open once the Government’s review on social distancing measures and public health advice allows this to happen safely.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to mobile units, HMCTS has prioritised the available space on its estate to house portable cabins to increase the ability to conduct more jury trials. The cabins are used by jurors who are safely marshalled, to limit transmission risk, between the cabin and court room. HMCTS will continue to prioritise the use of cabins in this way as part of a wider package of recovery measures, such as the use of Nightingale courts, that form its overall response to the pandemic.</p><p> </p><p>Both HMCTS and HMPPS have taken action to provide measures to keep consolations with defendants in custody as safe as possible. Since the start of the pandemic, HMPPS took urgent action to enable the criminal justice system (CJS) to continue running by enabling CJS professionals to consult defendants in custody by video. First, it enabled secure remote access to the previously closed prison–to–court video links by deploying over 900 cloud video platform video meeting rooms. HMPPS then increased physical video capacity by over 50% in prisons with a remand function and by over 77% across the wider custodial estate. To date, 371 new video points have been installed, with further installations planned in the coming weeks. In addition, prisons with a remand function were asked to extend their video operating hours.</p><p> </p><p>There will be occasions when lawyers must meet their clients in the court cells. HMCTS works closely with the Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS), who have the responsibility to risk assess the custody areas, to keep the same level of safety maintained throughout the court building. As public health advice changes, PECS review, assess and adapt their risk assessments accordingly to ensure that the custody suite remains safe. This ensures transmission risk is kept to a minimum during client consultations and the transfer of prisoners from cells to the court room. HMCTS will record, on its site-specific risk assessment, any safety concern identified by PECS and the action taken to resolve.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 185873 185874 question first answered 27/04/2021 16:38:34 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham