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This is probably linked to the recent White Paper from the Department of Constitutional Affairs, "Transforming Public Services: Complaints, Redress and Tribunals" (see Rightsnet newstory for background http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/cgi-bin/forwardsql/search.cgi?template2=user_details2.htm&output_number=1&sort=news.submission_date+desc&news.ID=&start=3 ).
The paper notes (5.8) that almost 40% of tribunal users needed to travel for more than one hour to reach their hearing, and 36% did not feel comfortable in the building. Also, 2.5% of appellants decided not to attend a scheduled hearing because of the distance they would need to travel.
The paper then goes on to state (5.24) that "The challenge of finding suitable, accessible, independent accomodation is a problem that exercises all tribunals from the largest to the smallest" and "the large estate of the Appeals Service has a utilisation rate of only around 50% for its hearing centres" and "There are cities and towns where both the Appeals Service and the Employment Tribunals have seperate hearing venues and others where neither has a centre".
To overcome these issues, the paper proposes (6.15) bringing together the ten largest tribunals to deliver a network of hearing centres that offer a better geographic spread than any individual tribunal can offer. DCA will support both courts and tribunals in a way that recognises their different requirements but allows both to take advantage of the potential for sharing, especially in remoter locations.
They will also be looking to introduce flexible, common layouts for hearing rooms so that they are available to the maximum number of tribunals, with an aim to establishing minimum standards for all hearing locations, including facilities such as refreshments, consultation space, hearing rooms and waiting areas.
Finally, it is noted (12.7) that "Firstly we want to tackle now the provision of hearing centres so that we can utilise the existing hearing centre estate for the benefit of all customers. By putting an active programme of sharing of existing centres, we can tackle under-utilisation by larger tribunals and the the need to hire hotels and other temporary accommodation by others. This is the Shared Accommodation Initiative".
There's obviously loads more within the White Paper but I haven't had a chance to go through it all yet. What is clear is that this is a 5 year process and the ball is already rolling at some speed, it seems.
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