Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the courts closures programme on the financial cost of travelling to court for (a) witnesses, (b) victims of crime and (c) court staff.

The decision to close a court is never taken lightly. In the case of each court closure, we undertook a public consultation exercise and considered the responses we received very carefully. The Lord Chancellor has only agreed to close courts when satisfied that effective access to justice would be maintained.

Allowances and travel expenses for victims of crime and prosecution witnesses are paid for by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Staff who move their work location to an alternative court as part of the Estates Rationalisation Programme, and who incur extra travelling costs to do so, are supported financially by access to an Excess Fares Allowance in line with MOJ policy.