More Courts!

We all understood where Nightingale Hospitals came from as an emergency response to the pandemic, but courts for heavens sake? What the hell is the logic there then? Are we going to have Nightingale prisons? I can't claim credit for this as it was Rob Allen on Twitter who suggested they be named after a distinguished former Lord Chancellor - Sir Thomas More 1478-1535 hence 'More Courts'.

10 ‘Nightingale Courts’ unveiled

The Lord Chancellor has today (19 July 2020) announced locations for 10 ‘Nightingale Courts’ which have been rapidly set up to tackle the impact of coronavirus on the justice system. Middlesbrough Town Hall, the Knights’ Chamber within the grounds of Peterborough Cathedral, and the Ministry of Justice’s headquarters in London are among the venues that will soon be in use.

The 10 sites will host the so-called Nightingale Courts with ongoing work to identify more potential locations. This will start to alleviate the pressure on courts and tribunals resulting from the pandemic – ensuring that the wheels of justice keep turning.

Spanning England and Wales, they will hear civil, family and tribunals work as well as non-custodial crime cases. The move will free up room in existing courts to hear other cases, including custodial jury trials, which require cells and secure dock facilities to keep the public, victims and witnesses safe.

A court set up in East Pallant House, Chichester, is expected to begin hearing an expanded list of cases next week, with all 10 locations up and running in August. The move forms part of government plans to ensure courts recover from the coronavirus pandemic as soon as possible and to avoid any delays getting criminals behind bars.

The confirmed 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 MP 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."

--oo00oo--

All Buckland's rhetoric is cobblers of course, with Covid proving useful cover for drastic cost-cutting and incompetence at the MoJ and confirmed by justice insiders on Twitter such as Catherine Baksi, Barrister 'now award-winning freelance hack, writing for The Brief TimesLaw, Guardian and Telegraph' :-

Since 2010 the Ministry of Justice has closed 295 courts - almost a third of all courts in England & Wales, including over half of all magistrates' courts and eight crown courts - most recently the large and modern facility at Blackfriars Crown Court. At the end of 2019, there was a backlog of 37,500 crown court cases, due to Ministry of Justice spending cuts, that meant courtrooms were left idle, while the number of cases waiting to be dealt with increased. Since lockdown the backlog has risen to over 41,000.

In 2019 only 12,000 crown court trials were completed. The backlog of crown court trials is now 26,500 -- more than twice the number of trials heard in the whole of last year. This means victims & defendants are left in legal limbo for up to three years before trials take place. In the magistrates courts, which hears 95% of criminal cases, the backlog of cases is over 500,000.

The lord chancellor, Robert Buckland, 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." It is possible that he is living in an alternative reality. Last week a report from the Bar Council said the Ministry of Justice spends 39 per person per day on the justice system -- less than the price of a pint of milk.

Caroline Goodwin QC, chair of the The Criminal Bar says the 10 Nightingale court are "a start, but just that" and urges the MoJ to open more courts and fund the justice system properly. Caroline Goodwin QC, CBA chair: "Time is of the essence. Two months of delay getting these 10 [Nightingale courts] on stream just piles on the human suffering to get trials on that have been delayed for between 1 & 3 years, impacting tens of thousands of those left waiting."

Caroline Goodwin QC, The Criminal Bar chair, continues: "The government was quick to cut a court budget by 15% last year & just as quick to sell off a perfectly good & much-needed crown court at Blackfriars. Lets see the same government ... invest" and open up court buildings.

As well as Nightingale courts, the Ministry of Justice tells me other options to tackle the backlog, incl crown court trials heard by a judge & 2 lay magistrates, reduced jury numbers & extending court sitting times during the week & at weekends, are still on the table.

Catherine Baksi

--oo00oo--

J Mellor court reporter on Twitter:-

London’s 10 Crown Courts have about 100 court rooms (approximate figures based on quick tally of lists) 18 trials are starting or ongoing on Monday 36 court rooms are probably overflow/public gallery/jury retirement rooms 46 court rooms are left ‘not sitting’ Breakdown:

Old Bailey: 4 trials (4 not sitting) 

Southwark: 2 trials (5 not sitting) 

Inner London: 1 trial (4 not sitting) 

Woolwich: 2 trials (3 not sitting) 

Croydon: 2 Trials (2 not sitting) 

Kingston: 0 Trials (7 not sitting) 

Isleworth: 2 Trials (3 not sitting)
Snaresbrook: 1 Trial (9 not sitting) 

Harrow: 1 Trial (6 not sitting) 

Wood Green: 1 Trial (3 not sitting)

--oo00oo--

Judge Itis on Twitter:-

We are now struggling to cover lists with Deputy DJs as they to begin to pick up their own practices post lockdown. A number of lists cancelled this week. So these new civil and family Nightingale Courts are going to be populated by?

--oo00oo--

Update 

From Twitter - John McNamara - Crime & Proceeds of Crime Barrister at 5SAHLaw Assistant Sec The Criminal Bar Association 

***43% of the criminal court rooms in purpose built courts are not being used today*** 

Empty court rooms/no declared purpose: 196 Total court rooms on list: 458 42.7% of court rooms are not sitting/not listed. But the MoJ say their handling of this crisis is world leading. This is important - the government have add 3 "dedicated" nightingale courts. They say we must work longer hours - but they are not even "sweating" the existing estate yet. There are NO recorders sitting. Part-time judges who would happily sit now to clear a backlog. We are 4 months into this, and there is still no apparent urgency to provide a solution. The longer the situation continues the more Government will state EOH [extended operating hours?] is a necessity to remove a purposefully created backlog & and now the delay in providing judges to speed up the courts.

Methodology: Court counted as empty/not sitting if stated so on listing, or if court room fails to appear on list. Where courtroom stated as being used for trial e.g. jury room/public gallery not counted empty. Where HHJ doing box work or reading court room not counted as empty. ? means unsure that the full number of courts rooms are listed. Help would be appreciated! The number of court rooms is based on the listings, if the numbers are incorrect it is because the courts do not appear on the lists.

It's been a very very long train ride this morning. Court's below as listed = no. empty/total no. court rooms: 

Aylesbury -2/3 

Basildon – 1/5 

Birmingham – 8/17 

Bolton- ? 

Bournemouth – 0/5  

Bradford – 5/8 

Bristol -5/8 

Burnley – closed 

Cambridge – 1/3 

Canterbury – 3/7
Cardiff – 3/9 

Carlise – 0/3 

CCC – 13/22 

Chelmsford – 0/6 

Chester – 1/4 

Croydon – 2/7 

Derby – 1/4 

Durham – 0/1 

Exeter – 0/2 

Gloucester – 2/3 

Great Grimsby – 5/8 

Guildford – 2/5 

Harrow – 4/8 

IL – 6/10 

Ipswich – 1/4 

Isleworth – 4/13 

Kingston (Hull) – 1/4
Kingston (London) – 7/11 

Leeds – 6/13 

Leicester - 8/12 

Lewes – 3/5 

(Hove – 1/3) 

Lincoln – 2/4 

Liverpool - ? 

Luton – 2/7 

Maidstone – 5/9 

Manchester – 9/15 

Manchester Minshull – 5/10 

Merthyr – 1/3 

Mold - ? 

Newcastle – 4/11 

IOW – 1/2 

Northampton – 1/5 

Norwich – 0/4
Nottingham – 4/10 

Oxford – 6/9 

Plymouth – 2/3 

Portsmouth – 4/7 

Preston – 5/11 

Reading 2/9 

Salisbury – 1/2 

Sheffield – 2/10 

Shrewsbury – 1/2 

Snaresbrook – 10/21 

Southampton – 2/4 

Southwark – 7/15 

St Albans – 4/8 

Stafford - 0/2 (?) 

Stoke on Trent – 0/2 (?)
Swansea – 2/4 

Swindon – 0/2 (?) 

Taunton – 1/2 

Teeside – 2/5 

Truro – 0/1 (? Mixed use court centre) 

Warwick – 1/4 

Winchester – 3/9 

Wolverhampton – 4/7 

Wood Green – 5/10 

Woolwich – 4/9 

Worcester – 0/3 

York – 0/2