Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken was for (a) the issue of a divorce petition and (b) the issue of divorce petition to decree nisi in each of the last two years.

A decree nisi is the provisional decree of divorce pronounced when the court is satisfied that a person has met the legal and procedural requirements to obtain a divorce. When a party applies for divorce, the court must complete administrative checks before it can issue the divorce petition. The time taken between the issue of a petition to when a decree nisi is granted is affected by a range of factors, including the respondent acknowledging that they have received the petition, the petitioner applying for the decree nisi, and the court considering the case and listing a hearing to pronounce the decree nisi.