Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on the review of the application of the presumption of parental involvement in the family courts, announced on 9 November 2020.

The Government launched the review into the presumption of parental involvement in child arrangements cases in November 2020. This review focuses on understanding how the presumption, together with its ‘risk of harm’ exception, is applied by the courts, including where there is evidence to suggest that the involvement of a parent will put the child at risk of harm. It also focuses on the impact on children’s welfare of the courts’ application of the presumption and its exception. An Advisory Group was established in November 2020 to inform the direction of the review, which has faced delays, largely due to COVID 19 restrictions. Work on the literature review, the qualitative research project, and the case file analysis continues.