Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the average cost of a care proceeding before the family courts in each of the last 3 years.

The Government’s latest estimates of the average cost (rounded to the nearest £10) of a public law case before the family courts, covering both the issue and hearing stages, are:

2017/18 £4,180

2016/17 £3,790

2015/16 £4,270