Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020

Lord Mackay of Clashfern Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

I assure the House that the Government will look at a signpost service from GOV.UK webpages, which will often be the first port of call for those thinking about divorce. The Government will also look for opportunities to bed, within the divorce application process, appropriate information and links about support services, such as mediation, and marriage and relationship support.

[Lord Mackay of Clashfern (Con) [V]]

How many measures drawing attention to available help when dealing with marital difficulty will have been received by, first, the applicant, and secondly, the respondent, in the course of a divorce application at present?

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Currently, both petitioners and respondents receive up to four notifications during the divorce process. Each of these contains get-help signs linking to support services. When revising the system for processing divorces to implement our reforms, we intend to do all we can to make signposting to support services as effective as it can be.