Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his plans are for the future of each of the Nightingale courts; and whether he has plans to open more Nightingale courts.

HMCTS establishes temporary ‘Nightingale Courts’ where we identify a need for additional temporary capacity for hearing court and tribunal cases. There are currently 50 rooms across 23 sites, of which 32 are Crown jury trial rooms.

As COVID safety measures change we have been able to bring additional hearing rooms in our permanent estate back into use, which has reduced the need for Nightingale courts. We now have over 470 Crown courtrooms available, which is comparable to pre-pandemic levels.

An update on the future use of Nightingale Courts will be provided in due course.