Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of magistrates now sitting in-person on the bench in courts for trials following the removal of covid-19 restrictions in courts.

Magistrates are legally required to sit in benches of two for trials, but more usually they would sit as benches of three. During the pandemic, trials continued to be dealt with by magistrates sitting in person, but to ensure social distancing, magistrates sat more regularly as benches of two. Even prior to the lifting of restrictions, the installation of plexi-glass in court rooms, enabled most trials courts to return to sitting as benches of three. The lifting of covid-19 restrictions means there should be no barrier to magistrates sitting in person as a bench of three. Since the lifting of covid-19 restrictions, all magistrates are sitting in person excepting for matters dealt with under the single justice procedure.