Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve (a) response times and (b) service standards at Wandsworth County Court.

Wandsworth County Court is part of the London Civil and Family Cluster. Performance is discussed weekly, and the cluster priorities agreed. Work is moved around the cluster to ensure that the quickest possible service is delivered. Continuous Improvement exercises continue to be undertaken to ensure the best customer service.

Over the last 12 months, overall workload in the cluster has reduced by 30%, and in Wandsworth by 20%. This has been achieved by sharing work with other courts, additional judicial recruitment, sitting days and digitalisation of online money claims.

While there have been significant recruitment and retention issues at Wandsworth in the past, we have now filled all vacancies following a targeted recruitment campaign.