Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's report entitled Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases, published in June 2020, what steps his Department plans to take to further engage children in family court proceedings.

The welfare of the child is the family court’s paramount concern and any decisions about future arrangements for children are based on this fundamental principle.

In February 2022, we launched the Investigative Approach Pathfinder court pilot in Dorset and North Wales. This pilot aims to improve the experiences for children and their parents in private law proceedings and particularly those who may need additional support, such as domestic abuse survivors. A key part of this is a stronger ‘voice of the child’ approach to ensure that, where appropriate, children’s wishes and views are central to proceedings. Evaluation of the pilot is ongoing.

In May 2023, the government published an update to the Implementation Plan for the “Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases” report, which demonstrates the good progress we have made to date and reiterates our determination to continue to respond recommendations of the report.