A New Justice Centre for Cardiff

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution – in the Senedd at 3:02 pm on 4 May 2022.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 3:02, 4 May 2022

You raise very important points. Of course, I've practised from the civil justice centre and there are other Members of this Senedd who are very, very familiar with those facilities. The state of the court, which was raised in the Commission on Justice in Wales, was highlighted two and a half years ago. And when you compare the actual facility and the court compared with those that exist in London, Edinburgh and Belfast, I think the situation in Cardiff is wholly, wholly unacceptable. I raised this issue with Lord Wolfson and, in fact, I'd invited Lord Wolfson to come and visit the court. His resignation, of course, has brought that to an end, but it's something I intend to do with whoever his replacement is.

Myself and the Minister for Social Justice raised this issue with the Lord Chancellor, Dominic Raab. We did not have anything like a satisfactory response. In fact, what we were informed was that there would be no replacement to the civil justice centre. There might be some minor improvements, but there were no plans for a replacement court. 

This is significant for a number of reasons. First, the Cardiff civil justice centre is not fit for purpose. It's not fit for the families, for the citizens who use that particular court, it is not fit for the lawyers who need to use it and it is also not fit or safe for the judiciary themselves. Anyone who's familiar with the court, I think, will fully endorse those particular comments. So, it is a matter of the utmost concern in terms of a justice issue that is not devolved, but where many of the consequences and many of the issues that we are concerned with, which have to be dealt with in that particular court, do not have that proper facility. 

It also undermines the legal economy in Wales because it removes the opportunity to actually develop the expertise, the sort of commercial work that would be very important to the Welsh economy and that I would certainly want to see. I know the Welsh Government wants to see the Welsh legal economy expand and grow. In order to do that, you have to have a proper court, you have to have proper facilities and you have to have something that stands up and is seen as something that obtains respect. I don't think we have any of those. I think the approach of the Ministry of Justice at the moment is one of neglect of their obligations in terms of the court estate within Wales. It's something that I intend to raise, and I know the Minister for Social Justice intends to raise, which we will do at every level. Quite frankly, it's just another argument where, if justice were devolved, the court would not be in that particular state and we would not have to tolerate those particular facilities.