The Judicial Appointments & Conduct Ombudsman has published his first annual report, setting formal performance targets for next year and revealing a funding surplus of more than £100,000 for the last 12 months.

In his report, published today (17 July), Sir John Bridgstocke – who has responsibility for dealing with complaints about judges' conduct and appointments to the judiciary – said the body had responded to 91% of complainants within five working days and had kept customers informed on a monthly basis in 82% of cases.

The body has now set formal targets of 95% in both performance categories for next year.

Meanwhile, annual spending at the body was £470,000 – well under its yearly budget of £600,000. It attributed the saving to handling much of its investigation work internally.

The office was established in April last year by the Constitutional Reform Act, which also ushered in the Judicial Appointments Committee – the body responsible for appointing judges in England and Wales.

Commenting on the report, Liz Humphreys, head of the ombudsman's office, said: "This year we didn't specify in how many cases we would reach these targets because we didn't know what was achievable. This year the business plan commits us to meeting some of our targets in 95% of cases."

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