Northern Trains Ltd and Network Rail took the decision to remove the previous contractor due to serious on-site safety concerns and remedial works have taken place. Urgent work is underway to consider how best to deliver accessibility improvements at Chorley station – MPs and other stakeholders will be updated once a viable strategy has been identified.

The Minister will be aware that I have raised a series of concerns with a number of Ministers and Secretaries of State about the proposals to put a third prison in the small Chorley borough village of Ulnes Walton. There is not sufficient road infrastructure to support it, there is no public transport solution, the local council objects to it, the councillors objected to it, and a survey I put out to local residents was overwhelmingly against it. Please can he commit today to withdrawing the planning inspector appeal and look again at the plans?

The estate expansion programme is important and fulfils a manifesto commitment. I absolutely acknowledge that my hon. Friend is a very strong campaigner. I hope she will also appreciate that a planning appeal is ongoing and, in those circumstances, it is not appropriate for me to comment further.

The academy trust of the proposed Chorley Career and Sixth Form Academy provided the Department for Education with regular updates about the progress of its consultation, which ran from Wednesday 7 March to Friday 27 April. It received a range of responses to the proposal to establish a new secondary school and sixth form in Chorley which was reflected in the consultation report it provided to the department in May. As a result of a rigorous continued assessment of all free school proposals, we have since decided to withdraw the project as the plans for the school had not progressed sufficiently for it to proceed to opening.

To clarify, Chorley Youth Court is a term given to proceedings involving youths that take place in Chorley Magistrates' Court. It is not a building or location in its own right. The department is unable to provide the information requested in view of a disproportionate cost to retrieve the data.

Over the past three years, the NW Regional Delivery Board and its predecessor, the NW Regional Management Board, have comprised an estimated 30 members, some of whom have changed over time or left the department. A review of those individuals' diaries over this timeframe would take significant resource.

We have however considered this request in relation to members of the NW Regional Delivery Board over the period of its existence (August 2011 to date). In that time at least three members of the board have visited Chorley Magistrates' Court, each on two to three occasions. This includes the NW Delivery Director, who is the chair of the NW Regional Delivery Board.

There is a requirement in respect of all children and young people under the age of 17 to be accompanied at all court hearings by a responsible adult, and therefore those below that age should not be travelling alone to and from court. This would usually require at least one or preferably both parents or the child’s legal guardian to accompany his/her/their son or daughter to court. Any looked-after child would be the responsibility of the relevant local authority, e.g. Lancashire County Council.

Any child or young person who is detained by the police and considered to be vulnerable may be detained in police custody as a place of safety for his/her own protection, pending his/her being brought before the next sitting of the Youth Court.

Vulnerable children and young people will continue to be protected in this way although some children and young persons will be required to travel a longer distance to the Youth Court at Preston Magistrates’ Court, in the future. However, there is no empirical evidence that demonstrates that youths would be substantially affected if these proposals were introduced. For those residing closer to Preston it would be a benefit. For those living further away, and assuming that they would travel through Chorley, it would mean minimal additional travelling time. Under the proposals, almost all of Lancashire will be no more than circa 10 miles from a Youth Court venue.

The full detail is contained within the response to consultation paper that was published on 16 May 2012. In total 60 individual responses were received. Of those 16 were in favour, 43 against and one did not indicate either agreement or opposition. It should be noted that members of several organisations contributed to a response from their organisation but also contributed responses in a personal capacity. The employees of one company submitted individual responses rather than a collective response from the company. When an adjustment is made for the latter aspect, the following outcome is shown: if each person or organisation were to be treated as having the opportunity to comment only once then 20 respondents would oppose the proposals, as compared to 16 who supported them with one respondent not specifying support or opposition.

A decision was taken by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, through the North West Region’s Delivery Board, following approval by the Lancashire Cluster’s Senior Management Team, to accept the proposals contained in the consultation paper in full, and this outcome was published on the 16 May 2012. It should be noted that this decision does not involve the closure of any court buildings. Following implementation, the venues dealing with youth court matters will be reduced from 11 to six. Chorley Magistrates’ Court is one of these venues, with effect from 1 July 2012, where youth court matters will be no longer dealt with.

So far as the youth court business that is currently dealt with in Chorley Magistrates’ Court is concerned, youths will be bailed or summoned to appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court. Youths who are detained in police custody pending appearance before the youth court will be brought before Preston Youth Court too on each weekday apart from Thursday, when they will be brought before the Ormskirk Youth Court. On Saturdays and bank holidays the existing arrangements for such youths to be brought before Preston Magistrates’ Court will continue. Currently, Chorley Magistrates’ Court is closed to all other business on one day each week to accommodate the youth business because that building is not suitable for dealing with youth and adult business simultaneously because of the impracticability of segregation. The Preston Youth Court is a separate self-contained and purpose built facility, which enables both adult and youth business to he heard at the same time in discrete parts of the building, as necessary and appropriate. There are currently four separate youth panels in the Central

and South West Lancashire business district. The Chorley Youth Panel is one of these. In line with changes that have already taken place in the other two business districts in Lancashire, discussions are ongoing with a view to a merger of the four separate panels to form one combined youth panel, with membership from all the current youth court panels. In this way the principles of local justice will remain intact and the administration of justice in the Central and South West Lancashire business district will be best served by a more efficient and effective use of the existing resources.

Youths who are currently bailed or summoned to appear before the court sitting in Chorley will instead be bailed or summoned to appear in the Preston Youth Court. Within Lancashire there is a flexible approach to listing cases and, subject to consultation with the parties to proceedings, some of the cases appearing before Preston Youth Court may be adjourned to Ormskirk Youth Court to be dealt with, particularly if that court can accommodate any trial more expeditiously. See also the response to the previous PQ with regard to youths, who are brought before the youth court from police custody.

There are no plans to close any court buildings at Chorley Magistrates’ Court. The rationale behind the decision to move youth court business away from Chorley Magistrates’ Court, in common with similar proposed movements of work in other areas of Lancashire, is contained within the consultation paper and the aim is to rationalise the provision of youth courts throughout the whole of Lancashire, as part of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service’s obligation to improve operational efficiency and achieve financial savings in service delivery, while maintaining a good service to all those who use the youth courts in Lancashire. The facilities at Preston Magistrates’ Court are better suited to dealing with youth business and, unlike the facilities available at Chorley Magistrates’ Court, the full range of youth business can be listed. The youth courts’ workload nationally continues to decrease and Lancashire is no exception. During the period 1 January 2012 and 31 March 2012 the Chorley Youth Court sat on 12 days and there were 20 court sessions. The sessions were for a total of 56:30 hours, which equates to an average session length of less than 2½ hours. When compared to the sessions held in Preston and the available capacity at Preston Magistrates’ Court, the business from Chorley can be easily absorbed into the current court sitting schedule there. This will result in a total of 50 sitting days per annum being saved at Chorley Magistrates’

Court alone, thereby freeing up resources for both the Crown Prosecution Service and HMCTS. On Tuesday each week, following implementation, the Chorley magistrates’ courthouse may be closed for court business with a reduction in the attendant costs. In this way, the available resources will be utilised more efficiently and effectively and should better match the workload demand. Further details are contained within the response to the consultation and the consultation paper that preceded it.

All the responses to the consultation exercise on the consultation in relation to the future of Chorley Youth Court were available to the North West Regional Delivery Board of HMCTS, as they had been similarly available earlier to the Lancashire Cluster’s Senior Management Team.