Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the scale of backlogs at County Courts in Wales; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce delays to hearing cases in those courts.

A breakdown of the outstanding caseload in each region of England and Wales is not published.

We continue to work, in close partnership with the judiciary, to improve the service in the county courts. We are replacing inefficient processes with our reformed digital services, using available courtroom capacity and supporting the use of remote hearings (where a judge deems it appropriate) to maximise the number of sitting days used in the jurisdiction.

The MoJ and the judiciary have taken and are taking action to increase judicial capacity. This includes a recruitment programme of up to 1,000 judges and tribunal members in 2022/23, across all jurisdictions. HMCTS is also working to ensure we have sufficient staff resource in place to support the number of sitting days used across jurisdictions.