Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37198, how many of the leaflets entitled Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK have been returned to his Department; and what the postage cost to the Government has been of such returns.
Answered by Andrew Selous
I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister's response of 25th May 2016. This information is not collated centrally by the Department.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil servants of his Department are members of trades unions; how many working hours of facility time are taken by such civil servants; and what estimate he has made of the cost of that facility time to his Department.
Answered by Andrew Selous
It is no longer possible for the department to verify the numbers of staff that are currently trade union members; this information can now only be obtained directly from the trade unions.
The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 at and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the running costs by expenditure item were for (a) Corby, (b) Kettering (c) Wellingborough and (d) Northampton magistrates' Courts.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The running costs for each of these courts are provided below:
Corby Magistrates' Court (2 court rooms) Operating costs 2014/15 | |
Name | Value |
Rates (Estate) | £11,809 |
Service Charges (Estate) [1] | -£39,376 |
Security | £18,235 |
Building Maintenance | £15,981 |
Management (Estate) | £8,037 |
Cleaning | £4,154 |
Utility - Electricity | £4,085 |
Printing | £2,250 |
Grounds Maintenance | £1,379 |
Telephone | £1,186 |
Waste Disposal | £243 |
Utility - Gas | £215 |
Waste & Refuse Removal | -£30 |
Total | £28,168 |
Kettering Magistrates' Court (2 court rooms) Operating costs 2014/15 | |
Name | Value |
Rates (Estate) | £18,798 |
Service Charges (Estate) | £4,148 |
Security | £33,383 |
Building Maintenance | £7,979 |
Management (Estate) | £7,465 |
Cleaning | £5,315 |
Grounds Maintenance | £1,690 |
Telephony | £1,119 |
Printing | £444 |
Waste Disposal | £286 |
Health & Safety - Personal Equipment | £53 |
Stationery & Office Supplies | £49 |
Total | £80,729 |
Wellingborough Magistrates' Court (3 court rooms) Operating costs 2014/15 | |
Name | Value |
Rates (Estate) | £13,962 |
Service Charges (Estate) | -£9,593 |
Security | £16,296 |
Building Maintenance | £14,020 |
Management (Estate) | £9,423 |
Cleaning | £6,618 |
Grounds Maintenance | £1,573 |
Telephony | £812 |
Waste Disposal | £718 |
Equipment Maintenance | £240 |
Information Communication Technology (ICT) - Other | £216 |
Printing | £193 |
Telecomms - Charges/Rental - mobile | £2 |
Total | £54,480 |
Northampton Magistrates' Court (6 court rooms) Operating costs 2014/15 | |
Name | Value |
Service Charges (Estate) | £80,500 |
Rates (Estate) | £31,812 |
Security | £73,671 |
Building Maintenance | £22,582 |
Management (Estate) | £12,898 |
Cleaning | £11,483 |
Estate Surveying | £7,577 |
Equipment Maintenance | £3,628 |
Telephony | £3,374 |
Printing | £1,241 |
Information Communication Technology (ICT) - Other | £792 |
Pest and Vermin | £714 |
Conveyancing | £570 |
Utility - Electricity | £352 |
Design/Print/Reprographic Services | £339 |
Catering-Office Drinking Water | £333 |
Waste Disposal | £245 |
Telecomms - Charges/Rental-non mobile | £166 |
Telecomms - Charges/Rental - mobile | £2 |
Total | £252,279 |
Negative figures shown in the above tables are a result of rebates.
The following costs collectively cover Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and Northampton magistrates’ courts. No staff are permanently allocated to these sites and as staff and judiciary are shared across these sites the staffing and judicial costs are accounted for centrally. The shared costs of these were:
Shared costs for Kettering, Wellingborough, Corby, Northampton magistrates’ courts – 2014/15 | |
Name | Value |
Staffing costs | £1,244,106 |
Judicial costs | £123,865 |
DX post | £3,136 |
Manual Payments (Ex gratia) | £60 |
Total | £1,371,167 |
[1] Figure includes a released excess accrual of - £54,959 that had accumulated from 2010.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the ownership of (a) Corby, (b) Kettering and (c) Wellingborough magistrates' courts is on a (i) freehold or (ii) leasehold basis.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
Corby and Kettering magistrates’ courts are freehold buildings. Wellingborough magistrates’ court is occupied under a peppercorn lease.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many active magistrates in England were sitting each year between 2005 and 2015.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The annual figures, as calculated at the end of the financial year, for the number of serving magistrates, for each year between 2005 and 2015, are given in the table below. Although magistrates are generally assigned to one local bench, they have jurisdiction to sit across England and Wales and, as a result, we can only show figures for the two countries combined.
The downturn in the number of magistrates, and the recruitment of new magistrates, are a natural consequence of falling workloads in the magistrates’ courts, due to falling crime and increased use of out of court disposals.
Financial Year End | Number of Serving Magistrates in England & Wales |
31 March 2005 | 28,300 |
31 March 2006 | 28,865 |
31 March 2007 | 29,841 |
31 March 2008 | 29,419 |
31 March 2009 | 29,270 |
31 March 2010 | 28,607 |
31 March 2011 | 26,966 |
31 March 2012 | 25,104 |
31 March 2013 | 23,387 |
31 March 2014 | 21,396 |
31 March 2015 | 19,634 |
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what criteria his Department used to decide which magistrates' courts in Northamptonshire it proposes in its current consultation to keep open.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The estate principles used to decide which courts were included are detailed in the national consultation document. https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/proposal-on-the-provision-of-court-and-tribunal-es
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the potential additional (a) travel expenses, (b) costs of non-attendance and (c) other costs to the public purse that would arise due to closure of magistrates courts in (i) Kettering and (ii) Corby.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
No decision has been taken to close the magistrates’ courts in Kettering and Corby.
We will consider all identified impacts once the consultation closes and all responses have been fully analysed. To ensure that access to justice is maintained, even in more rural locations, we are committed to providing alternative ways for users to access our services, including the use of other civic buildings. We are building a justice system which is simpler, swifter and more efficient. By using modern technology we can meet the needs of everyone who uses our services now and in the future.