Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to his oral Answer of 25 February 2020, Official Report, column 176, what the outcome was of his meeting of 26 February 2020 with the President of the Family Division.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Lord Chancellor had a constructive discussion with the President of the Family Division about their shared desire to ensure that vulnerable parties are given the right support through the family court process.
Our expert panel on harm in the family courts is actively considering these issues. The panel is finalising its report and will publish findings and recommendations for next steps this Spring.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the President of the Family Division in relation to transparency in the family courts.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Ministers at the Ministry of Justice hold regular discussions with the President of the Family Division on a range of issues. The Government fully recognises that family proceedings should be as transparent as possible, and welcomes the progress that has been made towards greater openness together with the review on transparency that the President of the Family Division is currently undertaking. Accredited media have been allowed access to certain hearings in the family courts since 2009, and in 2014 the previous President of the Family Division issued guidance leading to the increased publication of judgments. A pilot allowing legal bloggers to report on family proceedings has been running since 2018, and the current President of the Family Division published new guidance on anonymising judgments for publication in 2018 and reporting in the family courts in 2019.
Greater transparency must be weighed against the need to safeguard children and their family’s privacy given the extremely sensitive information about them that the family courts often need to consider. The Government will continue to work with the senior judiciary to ensure that the right balance is struck between transparency and privacy.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on his Department's review of domestic abuse and the family courts.
Answered by Wendy Morton
On 21 May 2019 we announced a public call for evidence led by a panel of experts to gather evidence on how the family courts protect children and parents in cases of domestic abuse and other serious offences.
The panel completed the call for evidence in September 2019, and published a Progress Update in October outlining the work completed and next steps.
The panel has been meeting regularly to discuss the wealth of evidence collected from 1,200 individuals and organisations, and are in the process of drafting their report. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many family court advisers were employed by Cafcass in each year from 2010 to date.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of family court advisers who were employed by Cafcass in each year from 2010 to date:
Month and Year | Number of Family Court Advisors |
March 2010 | 1120 |
March 2011 | 1116 |
March 2012 | 1163 |
March 2013 | 1198 |
March 2014 | 1226 |
March 2015 | 1200 |
March 2016 | 1192 |
March 2017 | 1146 |
March 2018 | 1295 |
March 2019 | 1337 |
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal cases have been referred to the Court of Appeal for review as a result of data manipulation at Randox Testing Services; and what was the outcome of those cases.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest figures show that four road traffic cases have been taken to the Court of Appeal, of which one case was overturned, one resulted in a reduction in sentence, one appeal was unsuccessful, and the fourth is still to be decided. Re-testing has so far identified no impact on other criminal offences, such as sexual offences, violence, or homicide. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) co-ordinates the national re-testing operation, and is responsible for providing regular updates.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment his Department has made of the number of Civil and Family Court cases where decisions were taken on the basis of manipulated forensic testing provided by (a) Randox and (b) Trimega.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Greater Manchester Police are undertaking an ongoing, expansive criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of toxicology results by individuals who were employed at Trimega, and later Randox Testing Services (RTS) after Trimega’s liquidation in 2014.
The investigation will seek to determine how many cases may have been affected and retesting of samples continues at pace. As such, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the number of cases affected at this time.
A bespoke court process has been implemented so that individuals who are concerned about the outcome of cases involving tests performed by Trimega can apply to the court to consider setting aside or changing their order.