Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the estimated cost of the infrastructure repairs required to address the backlog of repairs across the HMCTS estate.

The National Audit Office's January 2025 cross-government report ‘Maintaining public service facilities’ identified a maintenance backlog of approximately £1.3 billion across the court and tribunal estate. This represented the estimated cost of addressing the known maintenance requirements at the time building assessments were made and is likely to have increased since.

Historic underinvestment has led to challenges across the court and tribunal estate. That is why we are significantly increasing spending. In 2026/27, £287 million of capital funding will be invested in courts and tribunals across the country. This represents a significant increase on previous years and will enable the delivery of vital repairs, estate improvements, digital upgrades and major capital projects to enhance the estate. We have recently opened a large modern, fit-for-purpose tribunals hearing centre in London and are developing new court buildings in the City of London, Reading and Blackpool.