Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to resolve private-law Children Act proceedings.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving timeliness in child arrangement proceedings, and the Family Justice Board regularly monitors timeliness data against performance targets it has set both regionally and nationally. We are also working towards publishing a family justice strategy which will set out system-wide actions to support earlier resolution of private law proceedings and reduce demand and delays.

The Government has committed to national rollout of Child Focused Courts across England and Wales by March 2029. The model represents a significant reform to family private law and families benefit from a streamlined, problem-solving approach which enables the court to make safe decisions without delay. Data from the 10 areas already operating the Child Focused Model shows cases are being resolved up to twice as fast as the national average, and outstanding caseloads have fallen by up to 50%.