Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many emergency protection orders there were in England between 2010 and 2015; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the level of scrutiny for such orders.

The number of Emergency Protection Orders is published as part of the Family Court Statistics Quarterly publication. Data is available from 2011 up to January to March 2015 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2015.

On 24 June the Prime Minister announced a new Child Protection Taskforce chaired by the Secretary of State for Education. The Prime Minister’s announcement can be found online here: www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-new-taskforce-to-transform-child-protection. The Taskforce will lead work to: extend and accelerate reforms to the quality of social work practice and leadership; develop better multi-agency working between children’s social care, the police, health and other local services; improve local authority performance and promote innovative practice; and strengthen governance and accountability in children’s social care.