Morpeth County Court (Hansard, 25 April 1995)

Mr. John M. Taylor

The question concerns a specific operational matter on which the chief executive of the Court Service is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.

Letter from M. D. Huebner to Mr. A. J. Beith, dated 24 April 1995: The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, has asked me to reply to your question about any plans to close the court offices at Alnwick and Berwick. As you may know, the Circuit Administrator and his Courts Administrators have responsibility for assessing the changing needs of users of the Court Service. One way of doing this is to conduct a survey of the customers who call at court offices. On the North Eastern Circuit, a survey of callers at Berwick, Alnwick and Blyth County Courts began in March and will continue for a period of two months. The survey is intended to identify the reason for attending the court office and the place from which the customer has travelled. The results of the survey will be analysed by the Courts Administrator's Office. I should explain that surveys of this type do not necessarily lead to a case being put to the Lord Chancellor for the closure of a court. Indeed, a similar survey conducted in these courts six years ago resulted in no further action being taken. However, where the results of such a survey indicate that consideration should be given to closing a court, the approval of the Lord Chancellor must be obtained for full public consultation to take place before a final decision is made by him. Careful account is, of course, taken of any representations made during the public consultation process. Closure is only considered where the Lord Chancellor is satisfied that neighbouring courts can offer an appropriate standard of service which meets the needs of court users.