Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Sackman and Josh Fenton-Glynn

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Josh Fenton-Glynn (Calder Valley) (Lab)]

The Minister will be aware that the recent pathfinder family court pilots have been seen as largely successful. This is an opportunity to put children at the centre of these cases and to end the presumption of contact which puts partners and children of abusers at risk. Will she please advise me as to the next steps in this process?

[Sarah Sackman]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s question and I am grateful to him for raising the pathfinder court. These pilots are proving incredibly successful. They front-load a lot of the evidence gathering, they put the safety of children and family arrangements right at their heart, and they are proving a really successful model, which is why we plan to roll them out further. As part of that, as he has heard, we will be publishing our response to the presumption review very shortly.