Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people living in Copeland Borough who will be able to travel to (a) a magistrates’ court and (b) a family court by public transport in under 60 minutes if the proposed closure of West Cumbria Court goes ahead.
Mike Penning
No decision on the future of courts in West Cumbria will be made until every response to the current consultation has been carefully considered. Access to justice is not just about proximity to a court. To ensure that access to justice is maintained, we are committed to providing alternative ways for users to access our services, including the use of other civic buildings.
As the consultation states, the utilisation of West Cumbria Magistrates’ Court and County Court during 2014/15 was low at approximately 42% of its capacity. West Cumbria also has a worse standard of facilities for court users than other courts in the region.
|
Population from Copeland Borough that can get to court by public transport in less than 60 minutes. |
||
|
Before closure |
After closure |
|
|
a) Magistrates’ court |
28% |
9% |
|
b) Family court |
28% |
9% |
These figures are estimates based on the share of the population of Copeland Borough who are able to travel to the nearest alternative court of the same jurisdiction. Estimates of travel times are based on 2014 data from the Department of Transport journey planner database.
“
