Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Attorney General on the safety of jury trials as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

The Lord Chancellor regularly meets with the Attorney General and discusses a range of priority issues, which will include the impact of COVID-19 on the courts.

The access to justice provided by courts and tribunals is of critical importance. It is of top priority of HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to ensure that this essential public service is delivered safely.

HMCTS has risk assessed every Crown Court and introduced a range of safety controls to ensure that jury trials are safe and that all our courts are Covid-secure. For example, we have installed plexiglass screens in over 450 court rooms and jury deliberation rooms, provided additional touchpoint cleaning, mandated the use of face coverings in all communal areas, introduced one-way systems and taken steps to reduce footfall and remodelled office areas to ensure social distancing. Public health experts have endorsed these measures. Throughout the pandemic transmission of Covid-19 between jurors and court users in jury trials has been low.

The Government’s roadmap out of lockdown for England was published on 22 February. The proposed lifting of restrictions set out in Steps 1 to 3 will not have any direct bearing on jury trial safety measures in that they do not provide any opportunities to operate outside the current Covid-secure risk assessment process and measures, which are already well established and will remain in place.

Ahead of Step 4, as more is understood about the impact of vaccines on transmission and a far greater proportion of the population has been vaccinated, the Government will complete a review of social distancing measures and other long-term measures that have been put in place to limit transmission.

As we have throughout the pandemic, we will continue to act on the standards, advice and guidance available for workplaces, and where those change, we will update our policies, in consultation with Public Health organisations, to meet any new guidelines issued. In our planning, we will consider any variations in the approaches of the devolved nations.