HC Deb 06 July 1998 vol 315 cc380-4W
Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list those county courts which have been closed in each of the last four years for which figures are available. [49121]

Mr. Hoon

A list of the county courts closed in the last four years is shown.

Court closures 1994–98
Court Date of closure Post closure jurisdiction
Devizes1 1 April 1994 Trowbridge
Frome1 1 April 1994 Trowbridge
Clacton1 5 April 1994 Colchester
Sevenoaks1 5 April 1994 Tunbridge Wells
Sheerness1 5 April 1994 Sittingbourne
Sudbury 5 April 1994 Bury St. Edmunds, Braintree, Colchester and Ipswich
Bangor 4 July 1994 Caernarfon
Portmadog2 4 July 1994 Caernarfon
Stroud 4 July 1994 Gloucester
Stockton-on-Tees 2 November 1994 Resited to form the Teesside Combined Court Centre
Lampeter 5 December 1994 Aberystwyth and Carmarthen
Launceston1,2 5 December 1994 Bodmin
Liskeard1,2 5 December 1994 Bodmin
Ellesmere Port2 5 December 1994 Chester
Axminster and Chard1,2 5 December 1994 Yeovil
Shaftesbury1,2 5 December 1994 Yeovil
Amersham 9 January 1995 Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead, High Wycombe, Slough, Uxbridge and Watford
Wisbech 29 September 1995 King's Lynn
Market Drayton 27 October 1995 Shrewsbury and Stoke on Trent
Brentwood 29 December 1995 Subsumed by the creation of the Basildon Combined Court Centre
Bargoed 29 December 1995 Blackwood
Barry 29 December 1995 Cardiff
Cardigan1,2 29 December 1995 Carmarthen
Llandrindod Wells1,2 29 December 1995 Brecknock
Otley2 2 January 1996 Bradford, Harrogate, Leeds and Skipton
Alfreton 16 February 1996 Chesterfield, Derby, Mansfield and Nottingham
Ilkeston 16 February 1996 Derby and Nottingham
Matlock 16 February 1996 Buxton, Chesterfield and Derby
Sleaford 16 February 1996 Boston, Grantham, Lincoln and Newark
Spalding 16 February 1996 Boston, Grantham and Peterborough
Dover2 29 March 1996 Canterbury
Folkestone2 29 March 1996 Ashford
Newton Abbot2 29 March 1996 Amalgamated with Torquay
Sittingbourne2 29 March 1996 Maidstone and Medway
St. Austell 29 March 1996 Bodmin and Truro
Chippenham2 30 April 1996 Swindon and Trowbridge
Goole1 4 November 1996 Doncaster
Ammanford2 27 March 1997 Swansea, Carmarthen and Llanelli
Andover2 30 June 1997 Basingstoke, Salisbury, Winchester
Braintree2 1 December 1997 Chelmsford, Harlow and Colchester
Bishop's Stortford 1 December 1997 Cambridge, Harlow and Hitchin
Alnwick2 15 December 1997 Morpeth
Blyth 15 December 1997 Morpeth
Berwick upon Tweed1 15 December 1997 Amalgamated with Morpeth
Bridlington2 24 December 1997 Scarborough
1 Courts with caller office status
2 Courts where Circuit Administrators have undertaken to continue local District Judge sittings in suitable accommodation subject to demand

Note:

Two county court closures have been announced recently: Rochdale County Court and Holywell County Court will close on 7 September 1998

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to implement the Middleton report's recommendation on county courts closures alongside the Woolf report's recommendation that the report's civil justice reforms should be introduced by April 1999. [49128]

Mr. Hoon

The Lord Chancellor does not consider the Middleton Report's recommendations for widespread county court closures, without providing services in other ways, as the right way forward and has no plans to implement them.

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many county courts there are currently in England and Wales; which have facilities for hearings in open court; which have family, bankruptcy and district registry jurisdictions; and if he will list those which his Department or the Court Service are currently considering for or consulting on closure (a) in the current financial year and (b) in each of the next four years. [49120]

Mr. Hoon

There are currently 233 county courts in England and Wales. With the closure of Rochdale County Court and Holywell County Court in September 1998 the number will be 231. All the county courts have facilities for hearings in open court. 177 county courts have family jurisdiction.[...] the closure of Rochdale County Court, there will be [...] 112 county courts have bankruptcy jurisdiction. With [...] of Rochdale County Court there will be 111. [...] courts have a district registry. When Rochdale [...] Court closes there will be 134.

In the last financial year the Lord [...] permission to go to public consultation on the [...] county courts: Hemel Hempstead, Holywell, Roch[...] Camborne & Redruth, Poole, Shrewsbury, West Bromwich and Evesham.

The only other permission given by the Lord Chancellor to go to public consultation relates to the current financial year and is in respect of Corby and Loughborough County Courts.

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the reduction in(a) revenue and (b) capital budgets of the Court Service as a consequence of the closures of county courts in each of the last four years for which figures are available. [49122]

Mr. Hoon

There has been no reduction in either revenue or capital budgets as a direct result of court closures.

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many Court Service or Lord Chancellor's Department jobs were abolished as a result of county court closures in the last four years. [49124]

Mr. Hoon

The business case in support of a proposal for closure of a county court must give information on the numbers and grades of staff together with details of their redeployment. Any reduction in staff numbers is a result of a fall in civil business generally and not of court closures.

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the Middleton report's recommendation that on financial grounds large numbers of county courts should be closed; and if he will make a statement in that regard about his policy of increasing access to justice. [49127]

Mr. Hoon

The civil justice reforms on which Sir Peter Middleton reported form only part of major current changes in the working methods and procedures of the civil courts. The Lord Chancellor is considering how, and when, those changes might create opportunities for better use of resources while maintaining similar or improved levels of facilities and services. This is a better way forward than the wholesale closures recommended in the Middleton report. Court accommodation is kept under continuous review and proposals for the closure of courts are considered on an individual basis.

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the financial implications of county court closures for(a) the Legal Aid Board and (b) non-legally aided litigants. [49123]

Mr. Hoon

There are no specific financial thresholds that need to be breached before a closure proposal would be refused. Whilst financial implications are important considerations, the costs and practical implications of running a court, the public facilities, waiting times, workload levels and the overall standard of service that can be made available over the area as a whole also need to be taken into account.

Mr. Garnier

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on how many occasions in the last four years for which figures are available his Department or the Court Service has consulted the public about a proposed county court closure in England and Wales and, as a consequence, not closed the court, identifying in each case the court in question. [49125]

Mr. Hoon

In the last four years two county courts have remained open following public consultation. Closure of Gravesend County Court was not taken forward after consultation in 1994. Kettering County Court, proposed for closure in 1993 was later relocated within Kettering in more satisfactory accommodation.

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