Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) magistrates’ courts, (b) county courts, (c) dedicated tribunal buildings, (d) family courts and (e) crown courts have closed since 2010.

Since 2010, the following courts and tribunals have closed according to jurisdictional type:

*Includes 12 magistrates’ courts that were co-located with a county court.

**Includes 4 Crown Courts that were co-located with another jurisdiction.

Our court closure data is categorised by the jurisdictions as shown in the table above, we are not able to categorise courts that heard, or were considered capable of conducting Family hearings.

The decision to close any court is not taken lightly, it only happens following full public consultation and only where sufficient capacity existed in other nearby courts to accommodate the work of the closing courts, and where suitable facilities are available. Courts that have closed were either underused, dilapidated or too close to one another.