The information is as follows: (1) HMCTS currently has 105 magistrates (volunteers) that sit at Dudley magistrates court and live in Dudley. All of these magistrates have been involved in pre-consultation meetings and all have had a copy of the consultation document to consider. HMCTS will continue to offer sittings on dates and at centres where they volunteer to attend and there will be no adverse impact on the number of magistrates required. We are unable to provide attendance details of volunteer victim support officers since HMCTS does not collect that information. (2) If the proposed listing pattern is implemented, the long-term viability of Dudley magistrates courthouse would be; following consultation with judiciary, stakeholders and court users, to use the courthouse to accommodate family, civil and tribunals (CFT) hearings. In contrast to the decreasing criminal work load, the CFT work load is increasing and there is a requirement for additional court estates to accommodate this rise. This would provide court users with local services which at present are only available in Wolverhampton and Walsall. HMCTS does keep its estates under constant review to ensure that it meets operational needs. The proposals in the consultation are designed to make better use of our estate and the judicial resources available in the black country to improve the service we provide to all court users. We can confirm that there are no plans to close Dudley courthouse. (3) There are no plans to make any staff redundant. In the eventuality that staff are required to undertake duties in neighbouring courts, HMCTS will undertake and comply with all statutory consultation procedures. It is proposed that Dudley courthouse will accommodate civil, family and tribunal hearings which will require staff resources thus reducing, possibly eliminating the need to ask staff to travel to neighbouring centres. (4) The consultation has been managed by a group of senior magistrates and senior managers within HMCTS all of whom work in the west midlands, the black country and Warwickshire. There has been a lot of pre-consultation, inter-agency engagement with court users, police, CPS, GeoAmey, Victim and Witness Delivery Group, prisons, DVLA and local solicitors to ensure that the needs of all linked agencies are considered. There have also been three consultation meetings with HMCTS staff, police, probation, CPS, magistrates and judiciary to assess the listing proposals. In addition to this, the project group has held individual meetings with GeoAmey, probation, police and youth offending, witness service and the Legal Aid Agency to ensure that all stakeholders have been involved and any challenges faced addressed prior to consultation. A copy of the consultation paper has been distributed to in excess of 70 separate bodies; responses to be received by 21 October 2013. All parties/agencies will be involved in final implementation discussions. (5) The average travel times included in the consultation paper do not include potential traffic delays. Travel by private vehicle was sourced by the Green Flag route planner website and the public transport calculations were sourced using the appropriate websites for each travel mode entering required ‘to arrive at 9.30 am’ at each court centre as the end parameter. (6) HMCTS does not collate data on the number of visits made by victims and witnesses at court centres. We have checked with the central performance team who have clarified that this data is not captured. Furthermore it is not captured locally or on the magistrates libra system. We do, however, collate data on magistrates (volunteers) attendances which are as follows: In 2010—2,355 days per calendar year, 2011—1,610 days per calendar year and 2012—1,441 days per calendar year. The video link equipment on site at Dudley will still be available for use by witnesses when required. (7) If the preferred listing practices are implemented, local management will provide additional sitting days for Dudley to eliminate any backlog. No outstanding cases will be transferred to neighbouring court buildings.