Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of CAFCASS reports that were requested for Leave to Remove applications in each year since 2004.

The written consent of all persons with parental responsibility must be obtained in order to remove a child from the United Kingdom. Where a child arrangements order requires a child to live with a named person, and consent for removal is not given, the court can be asked for permission under section 13 of the Children Act 1989. Where there is no such child arrangements order in force, the court can be asked to decide about the child’s removal through a specific issue order made under section 8 of the 1989 Act.

In either situation, the court may ask Cafcass to prepare a Section 7 welfare report about the child’s welfare needs and family circumstances. Cafcass does not record data on the number of Section 7 reports requested by the court by reference to the type of application made. This information could only be obtained from analysis of individual case files at disproportionate cost.