HM Courts Service
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Courts welcome installation of Wi-Fi
Most Crown and Combined courts across England and Wales will now have Wi-Fi facilities in place, the Courts Minister, Maria Eagle announced today.
BT Openzone facilities have now been installed in 67 courts over the past three months to allow court users to take advantage of fast and convenient Wi-Fi in between court sittings.
The installation of Wi-Fi facilities will help barristers and solicitors in England and Wales to utilise time between cases more effectively by providing wireless access to email, legal reference material, and suitable office networks. For jurors, victims and witnesses, the availability of high-speed broadband Internet will mean ready access to work, business and leisure pursuits in between court hearings. Wi-Fi will also enable any journalists to be able to file their copy back to HQ in the event of major trials in the public interest.
Courts Minister Maria Eagle welcomes the availability of Wi-Fi:
"Many legal professionals who use the courts need access to fast and instant online information. Similarly HMCS recognises that going to court as a victim, witness or juror can be disruptive for many people who may need to keep in touch with their business, work or family during the day.
"The provision of Wi-Fi is an important step by HMCS to improve court facilities and the quality of service provided to court users.
Wi-Fi will be available at signposted zones in most publicly accessible areas of the court. For a typical Crown Court this will cover the advocates' assembly room, the jury assembly suite, witness waiting area, public concourse, and cafeteria (where available).
Her Majesty's Courts Service has funded the provision of Wi-Fi facilities in the courts, and will receive a percentage of the revenue from BT Openzone.
The agreement to install the Wi-Fi network across the courts follows a successful installation and pilot of BT Openzone wireless access points across eight courts - the Royal Courts of Justice, the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey), Southwark, Birmingham and Swansea Crown Courts, and Winchester, Leeds and Liverpool Combined Courts.
Chris Bruce, General Manager, BT Openzone, says:
"As anyone who has served as a juror or worked in the legal profession will testify, there can be a fair amount of waiting around before and in between proceedings. This announcement means that lawyers, jurors, clerks and judges can send and receive emails, access the internet and enjoy all the benefits of Wi-Fi whilst still being available for the next session of court at a moment's notice. Members of the public can also stay connected when visiting the court."
To access the wireless broadband network at the courts, a wide range of payment options are available from BT Openzone. These include vouchers and subscriptions which can be purchased electronically on-line, with a range of tariffs to meet the needs of occasional and frequent users. Customers of BT Total Broadband can now use their free inclusive Wi-Fi minutes to access Openzone hotspots in the courts as well as other hotspots around the country.
BT's hotspot estate in the UK and Ireland covers more than 3,000 hotspots including railway stations, airports, hotel chains, coffee shops, marinas and 12 city centres, including Newcastle, Liverpool and Westminster, plus hotspots provided by the BT FON Wi-Fi community, now with more than 95,000 members. These provide BT Openzone, BT FON, BT Total Broadband Anywhere, BT Office Anywhere and BT Fusion customers or casual users with a comfortable location to log in without wires.
To find their nearest hotspot, customers can use the BT Openzone hotspot directory - http://btopenzone.hotspot-directory.com/
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk
All BT news releases can be accessed at: http://www.btplc.com/News
NOTES
1. Her Majesty's Courts Service is an executive
agency of the Ministry of Justice. Our remit is to deliver justice
effectively and efficiently to the public. We are responsible for
managing the magistrates' courts, the Crown Court, county
courts, the High Court and Court of Appeal in England and Wales.
2. The installation of BT Openzone WiFi in Crown and Combined courts was enabled through ATOS Origin, the IT infrastructure provider to the Ministry of Justice
3. Wi-Fi devices can be used in the publicly accessible areas of the court building, however electronic devices including laptops and PDA's cannot be used in the courtroom or jury proceedings unless the presiding judge or magistrate has granted permission.
4. To find out which courts have Wi-Fi facilities installed, individual court details can be viewed at http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/ .
5. Combined courts are centres that deal with both Civil and Criminal matters.
6. About BT: BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.
In the year ended 31 March 2008, BT Group plc's revenue was £20,704 million with profit before taxation of £2,506 million.
7. British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.
For more information, visit http://www.bt.com/aboutbt
8. Courts with new or extended Wi-Fi facilities available are:
Basildon Combined Court Luton Crown Court
Birmingham Crown Court Maidstone Combined Court
Centre
Birmingham Crown Court - Priory Court Manchester City Magistrates
Site Court
Blackfriars Crown Court Manchester Crown Court
(Crown Square)
Bolton Combined Court Centre Manchester Crown Court
(Minshull St)
Bournemouth Crown Court Mold Crown Court
Bradford Combined Court Centre Newcastle-upon-Tyne Combined
Court Centre
Bristol Crown Court Newport (South Wales) Crown
Court
Burnley Combined Court Centre Northampton Combined Court
Cambridge Crown Court Norwich Combined Court
Centre
Canterbury Combined Court Centre Nottingham Crown Court
Cardiff Crown Court Oxford Combined Court Centre
Carlisle Combined Court Centre Peterborough Combined Court
Centre
Carmarthen Crown Court Portsmouth Combined Court
Centre
Central Criminal Court Preston Combined Court
Centre
Chelmsford Combined Court Centre Reading Crown Court
Chester Crown Court Salford Magistrates Court
Coventry Combined Court Centre Sheffield Combined Court
Centre
Croydon Crown Court Snaresbrook Crown Court
Derby Combined Court Centre Southampton Combined Court
Centre
Durham Crown Court Southwark Crown Court
Exeter Combined Court Centre St. Albans Crown Court
Gloucester Crown Court Stafford Combined Court
Centre
Guildford Crown Court Stoke-on-Trent Combined
Court
Harrow Crown Court Swansea Crown Court
Inner London Crown Court Teesside Combined Court
Centre
Ipswich Crown Court Trafford Magistrates Court
Isleworth Crown Court Warrington Crown Court
Kingston-upon-Hull Combined Court Warwick Combined Court
Centre Centre
Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court Winchester Combined Court
Centre
Leeds Combined Court Centre Wolverhampton Combined Court
Centre
Leicester Crown Court Wood Green Crown Court
Lewes Combined Court Centre Woolwich Crown Court
Lincoln Crown Court Worcester Combined Court
Liverpool Crown Court York Crown Court
