Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many parents involved in family court cases relating to children had no legal representation in (a) Wales and (b) Newport East.

We do not hold information on the representation of parents in the family court. Family cases showing applicants and respondents who represent themselves are published quarterly. Not all applicants and respondents will be parents.

Applicants who represent themselves have the field 'legal representation' in the Ministry of Justice administrative database left blank. This is only a proxy measure and parties without a recorded representative are not necessarily litigants in person.

Information on the representation of parties is available for family courts at a national level in table 2.4 of Court Statistics Quarterly and it is available at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2014

Parties with no legal representation are not a new phenomenon in our courts. We have taken steps to help people who either want to represent themselves in court or have to do so. The new package of support announced on 23 October is aimed at keeping disputes away from court, and those who end up in court will be provided with better support.