Justice ministers were bullish this week over the state of the crown courts in England and Wales as the government braces for another potential wave of the coronavirus.
A row is bubbling, however, between the government and hundreds of part-time judges because of the number of sitting days per year that they are being encouraged to contribute in a bid to tackle a stubborn backlog of cases.
Chris Philp told the House of Commons that there are 47 “Nightingale” courtrooms in operation and 28 of those are used for Crown Court purposes. The minister added that 32 of those courts would be kept operating until the end of March. Ministers also crowed that they were reopening 60 traditional courtrooms, which had been shut because of