Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been an impact assessment of clause 17 of the Courts and Tribunals Bill on fathers in prison who are trying to retain parental responsibility.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Clause 17 of the Courts and Tribunals Bill will repeal the statutory presumption of parental involvement from section 1 of the Children Act 1989. The aim of repealing this measure is better to protect children from harm, including harm which might result from contact with abusive parents or resulting from decisions made by abusive parents.
The Government has thoroughly assessed the impact of repealing the statutory presumption of parental involvement. The impact assessment for Clause 17 of the Courts and Tribunals Bill does not look at fathers who are prisoners as a distinct group.
The impact assessment for this measure can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0389/Non-IRCC_impact_assessment.pdf
The equalities statement for this measure can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/699dfa26db2401de164d6c90/courts-tribunals-bill-equalities-statement.pdf
Both documents have also been attached for ease.
Repealing the statutory presumption does not diminish the importance of a parent being involved in their child’s life – through contact or through holding or exercising parental responsibility - where it is safe and beneficial. Rather, it ensures that the child’s welfare continues to be placed first in every decision.
Repealing the presumption means that courts, when making decisions, including applications related to parental responsibility, will adopt an openminded enquiry as to what is in a child’s best interests rather than starting from an assumption about parental involvement. Courts will continue to use the provisions set out in the Children Act 1989. In making decisions about the exercise of parental responsibility, the court will continue to be guided by the welfare checklist in order to ensure a thorough assessment of each child's circumstances.
Courts will continue to make orders for a parent (including a parent who is a prisoner) to be involved in a child's life, where that is safe and in the child’s best interests. HMPPS will continue to provide a range of services to maintain family contact and are updating the Strengthening Family Ties Policy Framework to reaffirm this, setting out clear expectations for how prisons should support people in custody to develop and sustain positive family relationships.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have carried out an assessment of the impact of clause 17 of the Courts and Tribunals Bill on the ongoing implementation of the 2017 and 2019 Farmer Reviews on the importance of maintaining male prisoners' and female offenders' family ties to prevent reoffending and intergenerational crime.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Clause 17 of the Courts and Tribunals Bill will repeal the statutory presumption of parental involvement from section 1 of the Children Act 1989. The aim of repealing this measure is to better to protect children from harm, including from harm which might be caused by contact with abusive parents
The Government has thoroughly assessed the impact of repealing the statutory presumption of parental involvement. The impact assessment for Clause 17 of the Courts and Tribunals Bill does not look at prisoners as a distinct group.
The impact assessment for this measure can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0389/Non-IRCC_impact_assessment.pdf
The equalities statement for this measure can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/699dfa26db2401de164d6c90/courts-tribunals-bill-equalities-statement.pdf
Both documents have also been attached for ease.
Repealing the statutory presumption does not diminish the importance of parental involvement and contact where it is safe and beneficial. Rather, it ensures that the child’s welfare continues to be placed first in every decision.
Repealing the presumption means that courts will adopt an openminded inquiry enquiry into what is in a child’s best interests, rather than starting from an assumption about parental involvement. Courts will continue to use the provisions set out in the Children Act 1989 when making decisions, guided by the welfare checklist, in order to ensure a thorough assessment of each child's circumstances.
Courts will continue to make orders for a parent (including a parent who is a prisoner) to be involved in a child's life where that is safe and in the child’s best interests. HMPPS will continue to provide a range of services to maintain family contact and are updating the Strengthening Family Ties Policy Framework to reaffirm this, setting out clear expectations for how prisons should support people in custody to develop and sustain positive family relationships.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Timpson on 10 December (HL2894), what plans they have to reform telephony arrangements in prison so costs to prisoners are reduced to help strengthen family and significant other relationships and to facilitate rehabilitation.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is aware of the importance of allowing prisoners to maintain contact with family and other positive relationships, and the positive influence this can have on their wellbeing and rehabilitation. Provision of in-cell telephony is one of several ways that we enable that contact to take place.
We will shortly be commencing the reprocurement process to ensure continuation of a telephony service once our current contract terminates, and one of the key aims will be to ensure affordability for prisoners.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they are giving to courts to signpost separating couples to early advice in Family Hubs, including support to stay together where appropriate, before separating couples can initiate court proceedings.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Government recognises that early access to information for separating families is essential. This is why the family procedure rule committee has put in place Pre-Application Protocols to signpost separating couples to support which may help them resolve their dispute without court intervention. These protocols also outline the steps that couples are expected to take to try to resolve their dispute before making a court application.
If families do proceed to court, The President of the Family Division now sends a letter out to both the applicant and the respondent, pointing them towards a range of resources which may help them reach agreement away from court, where safe and appropriate, including the Government’s Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, which offers £500 towards the cost of mediation.
Further Family Procedure Rule changes, which came into force in April 2024, encourage more people to attend Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs) before court. The MIAM is a meeting with a mediator to discuss whether mediation or another form of non-court dispute resolution may be preferable to proceeding to court.
The Government is also working to improve the information available, both online through GOV.UK, and offline via sources such as family hubs, to help inform separating families of their options before applying to court.
Taken together, these measures help ensure that separating families are getting the information and support they need as early as possible.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to provide, via Family Hubs, early advice and support on staying together to separating couples, before the start of court or other legal proceedings.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Through both the Family Hubs – Start for Life programme and the Family Hubs Transformation Fund there are now more than 400 family hubs open across the 88 Local Authorities. Family hubs, where appropriate should connect families going through parental separation to services and support locally to ensure outcomes for their children are front and centre when agreeing child arrangements. This is to help avoid the cost and potential trauma associated with going through the court process.
In areas with a developed family hub model, local authorities may provide hub-based mediation or other services in support of separating parents, such as shared parenting programmes. This is not a requirement of the programme but is strongly encouraged for areas who are seeking to enhance their offer.
The Government recognises the importance of supporting separating families to resolve their issues quickly, and where appropriate, without the need to come to court. This is why the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme continues to provide £500 towards the cost of mediation. To date, over £16 million of vouchers have helped 38,700 separating parents to access mediation.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what research they have funded or plan to fund to investigate the effectiveness of non-court dispute resolution support services for families, including non-legal options such as separated parenting programmes and Voice of the Child, to promote evidence-led outcomes for the benefit of children.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Government recognises the importance of supporting separating families, and where appropriate, helping them resolve their issues quickly and without the need to come to court.
The Family Mediation Voucher Scheme continues to provide £500 towards the cost of mediation. To date, over £16 million of vouchers have helped 33,000 separating parents to access mediation. Analysis of the first 7,200 completed under the scheme suggests that 69% of participants reached whole or partial agreement and did not need to go on to court.
The Department for Work and Pensions runs the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme which aims to address frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict between parents and improve outcomes for children.
The programme, funds grants to Local Authorities in England who work in partnership with multi-agency stakeholders, commissioning relationship support for parents in conflict. Evidence of the impact of these innovative services to increase access for diverse families can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reducing-parental-conflict-programme-evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training judges will receive to apply the new Family Procedure Rules and to ensure that parents are aware of and can access the full range of legal and non-legal non-court dispute resolution support services
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Ministry of Justice is not responsible for judicial training. This is the responsibility of the Judicial College.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the training provided to judges to apply the new Family Procedure Rules is delivered by judges or experts over the full range of legal and non-legal non-court dispute resolution support services
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Ministry of Justice is not responsible for judicial training. This is the responsibility of the Judicial College.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many FM5 forms are registered on court files as having been filed before first hearing, in compliance with the Family Procedure Rules issued in April.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service does not currently hold data on how many FM5 forms are filed before the first hearing.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether prevention will be included in early advice for separating couples, before court and other legal proceedings, including in family hubs; and whether relevant professionals will be appropriately curious about whether couples have considered mending their relationship and help them access support to stay together if that is what both parties want.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The Government recognises the importance of supporting separating families, and where appropriate, helping them resolve their issues quickly and without the need to come to court.
We know that early access to information for separating families is essential and we are working to improve the information, both online through GOV.UK, and offline via sources such as family hubs, to help inform separating families of their options before applying to court.
We also continue to work with the Department for Education to ensure that Family Hubs connect families going through parental separation to services and support locally, to ensure outcomes for their children are front and centre when agreeing child arrangements.