Some ten ‘Nightingale Courts’ are being set up to tackle the impact of coronavirus on the justice system in England and Wales, They will hear civil, family and tribunals work and non-custodial crime cases. Those sites are:
– Former county court at Telford, Shropshire
– Hertfordshire Development Centre, Stevenage
– Swansea Council Chambers, Swansea
– Cloth Hall Court, Leeds
– Middlesbrough Town Hall, Teesside
– East Pallant House, Chichester
– 102 Petty France, London
– Prospero House, London
– Former magistrates’ court at Fleetwood, Lancashire
– Knights’ Chamber and Visitor Centre, Bishop’s Palace, Peterborough Cathedral
The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC said: “Our action to keep the justice system running throughout the pandemic has been globally recognised, with these Nightingale Courts being the latest step in this effort. They will help boost capacity across our courts and tribunals – reducing delays and delivering speedier justice for victims.
“But we won’t stop there. Together with the judiciary, courts staff and legal sector, I am determined that we must pursue every available option to ensure our courts recover as quickly as possible.”
Comment
For Labour, Shadow Justice Secretary, David Lammy said that the government did not recognise the scale of the crisis in the justice system. The London MP said: “The backlog in criminal cases was in the tens of thousands before the pandemic began, Coronavirus has only made an existing problem worse. The fact that several of the new ‘Nightingale’ courts are former courts which the government closed down exposes the cost of ten years of cuts to the justice system. The government must do much more to ensure victims of crime are no longer denied justice because of delay.”
In March, almost half of all courts were closed and jury trials were paused, the Ministry of Justice says. Some 54 Crown Courts will be hearing jury trials as of next week. Almost all courts are now open to the public again – with 300 operating this week.
The Law Society has commented that problems of backlog in cases are not new, although exacerbated by Covid-19. The backlog in the Crown Court approached 40,000 cases even before the crisis, despite there being judges available, as the government did not fund the judicial time needed, the Law Society said.
