3. State of court buildings. The physical state of many courts is a concern: the infrastructure is often old and degraded. Court buildings are not maintained adequately, so that facilities degrade faster than they should. Unpleasant working conditions adversely affect the work of users and impact negatively on service delivery. It notes, too, the Public Service Commission's (PSC) recent findings on its inspections of Regional Courts in all nine provinces. The PSC identified outdated/dilapidated court infrastructure as a contributing to court backlogs: a lack of court rooms and shared accommodation results in more postponements. The impact of this are increased postponements and delayed finalisation of cases. The Committee requests the Department to respond, in writing to the observations and recommendations contained in the PSC's reports, indicating its plan of action and progress made, by 19 July 2013.