Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much unused (a) physical courtroom capacity and (b) court time there is at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court in the last year; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of unused capacity at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court to accommodate current levels of work at Bury Magistrates' Court.

No decision has been taken to close Bury Magistrates’ Court.

Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court has 18 court rooms and operated at approximately 60% utilisation in 14/15, with 40% of its capacity being unused (8,928 hours). Bury Magistrates’ Court carried out 5,026 hours of criminal work in 2014/15 which is proposed to move to Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court.