Making the courts fit for future

Travel times and ease of transport will be ‘prioritised’, as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) continues its £1bn reform of the court and tribunal estate. The benchmark will be that a court user can leave home no earlier than 7.30am and return no later than 7.30pm, the MoJ stated in its response last week to its January consultation, ‘Fit for the future: transforming the court and tribunals estate’. The MoJ also wants specialist front-of-house staff, who will be trained in new technologies. Justice secretary David Gauke added: ‘We expect the number of people accessing our courts remotely to increase.’