Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has commissioned research on the effect of court closures on (a) non-attendances of defendants and (a) staff morale.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service holds data showing failure-to appear rates of defendants mapped against the number of courts and tribunals that have closed in each year. There was no significant increase in failure to attend warrants being issued as a proportion of hearings following the large closure programme of 2011/12.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service acknowledges the impact that court closure may have on staff and when implementing a court closure support is offered to staff members in discussing relocation options with them. More broadly, staff morale is monitored annually through the HM Courts & Tribunals Service People Survey.