By Jemma Slingo2021-03-17T10:23:00+00:00
HM Courts & Tribunals Service is ignoring local officials in its mission to boost court capacity, meaning potential Nightingale courtrooms are going unused, the House of Commons justice committee has heard.
Speaking at a public evidence session, the police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Hertfordshire said HMCTS is failing to identify local solutions to the growing criminal backlog.
David Lloyd, Hertfordshire PCC since 2012, said: ‘There has been a problem with both the level of communication and engagement from HMCTS with local criminal justice system partners, and crucially the ability of HMCTS to work with partners to identify solutions that work locally. HMCTS is very much a centralised agency that doesn’t appear to empower its senior staff as much as it might do.’