Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which courts his Department closed in 2015; on what dates those court buildings were sold; and what the value was of each of those sales.

he decision to close a court is never taken lightly. Court closures have taken place following a public consultation and only when the Lord Chancellor was satisfied that effective access to justice could be maintained. We have closed less efficient courts allowing for resources to be concentrated into a smaller number of better quality and more flexible buildings.

The table below provides a list of courts closed in the 2015/16 financial year, their date of sale and the disposal proceeds.

To note, the list does not include court integrations, which involve the movement (or merging) of services into another existing HMCTS location in the same local area.