Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people diagnosed with autism requested but were not granted reasonable adjustments as defined within the Equal Treatment Bench Book in the last year.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) considers each reasonable adjustment request it receives on an individual needs basis. HMCTS does not require that people going through the court or tribunal system tell them if they are diagnosed with autism. It is for the requestor to decide whether they tell HMCTS about a diagnosis of autism. If the requestor tells HMCTS they have autism, the agency does not necessarily document that a diagnosis of autism has been given when recording details of requests for reasonable adjustments. The information requested is not, therefore recorded centrally.
HMCTS will refer any requests from users with disabilities for reasonable adjustments in the hearing to the judge to consider in their independent judicial capacity. The judge will consider such requests in accordance with the Equal Treatment Bench Book.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to Answer of 22 September to Question 49643, if HM Courts & Tribunals Service do not record the number of people with autism who have requested a reasonable adjustment in relation to their autism or otherwise have told the agency that they have autism, what steps he is taking to assess the adequacy of the reasonable adjustments made.
Answered by Gareth Johnson
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) considers each reasonable adjustment request it receives on an individual needs basis. The adequacy of each reasonable adjustment will therefore be tailored to these individual needs and are not subject to a standardised assessment.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people diagnosed with autism were granted reasonable adjustments as defined within the Equal Treatment Bench Book in the last year.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not require that people going through the court system tell them if they are diagnosed with autism. HMCTS also does not record centrally the number of people with autism who have requested a reasonable adjustment in relation to their autism or otherwise told the agency that they have autism.
HMCTS also does not record centrally when a judicial office holder agrees to a reasonable adjustment as defined in the Equal Treatment Bench Book for people diagnosed with autism.
HMCTS is committed under the National Autism Strategy Implementation Plan to continue to improve staff awareness of dealing with court and tribunal users with hidden disabilities, including autistic people.
Initiatives include the current pilot of the Hidden Disabilities sunflower lanyard scheme to help users with hidden disabilities get the support they need. The pilot has been a success and is now being rolled out nationally with a completion date of June 2023.
HMCTS and the judiciary are committed to providing reasonable adjustments that will help people with disabilities including autism access services, facilities and information, and participate in court and tribunal proceedings without disadvantage.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of people diagnosed with autism who have been through the court system in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) does not require that people going through the court system tell them if they are diagnosed with autism. HMCTS also does not record centrally the number of people with autism who have requested a reasonable adjustment in relation to their autism or otherwise told the agency that they have autism.
HMCTS also does not record centrally when a judicial office holder agrees to a reasonable adjustment as defined in the Equal Treatment Bench Book for people diagnosed with autism.
HMCTS is committed under the National Autism Strategy Implementation Plan to continue to improve staff awareness of dealing with court and tribunal users with hidden disabilities, including autistic people.
Initiatives include the current pilot of the Hidden Disabilities sunflower lanyard scheme to help users with hidden disabilities get the support they need. The pilot has been a success and is now being rolled out nationally with a completion date of June 2023.
HMCTS and the judiciary are committed to providing reasonable adjustments that will help people with disabilities including autism access services, facilities and information, and participate in court and tribunal proceedings without disadvantage.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to implement the recommendations of the report of the Expert Panel on Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases, published in June 2020, on the safety of abuse victims (a) before, (b) during and (c) after court proceedings.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Implementation Plan, published in response to ‘Assessing the Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Proceedings’, outlined the Government’s assessment of the expert panel’s report and committed to a number of actions to reform the system, including the Child Arrangements Programme and improving safety at court. Since then, measures to better protect victims of domestic abuse and their children in the family court have been introduced via Sections 63, 65 and 67 of the Domestic Abuse Act. In addition, we are testing reforms to the Child Arrangements Programme and seeking to enhance the voice of the child through the Investigative Approach pilot which has launched in Dorset and North Wales, and through the flexible case management provisions introduced by Practice Direction 36Y.
The Government intends to publish a full update on progress against commitments made in the Implementation Plan in due course.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the barriers to the voice of children in private law cases.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Implementation Plan, published in response to ‘Assessing the Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Proceedings’, outlined the Government’s assessment of the expert panel’s report and committed to a number of actions to reform the system, including the Child Arrangements Programme and improving safety at court. Since then, measures to better protect victims of domestic abuse and their children in the family court have been introduced via Sections 63, 65 and 67 of the Domestic Abuse Act. In addition, we are testing reforms to the Child Arrangements Programme and seeking to enhance the voice of the child through the Investigative Approach pilot which has launched in Dorset and North Wales, and through the flexible case management provisions introduced by Practice Direction 36Y.
The Government intends to publish a full update on progress against commitments made in the Implementation Plan in due course.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made in implementing reforms to the Child Arrangements Programme as recommended in the report of the Expert Panel on Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases, published in June 2020.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Implementation Plan, published in response to ‘Assessing the Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Proceedings’, outlined the Government’s assessment of the expert panel’s report and committed to a number of actions to reform the system, including the Child Arrangements Programme and improving safety at court. Since then, measures to better protect victims of domestic abuse and their children in the family court have been introduced via Sections 63, 65 and 67 of the Domestic Abuse Act. In addition, we are testing reforms to the Child Arrangements Programme and seeking to enhance the voice of the child through the Investigative Approach pilot which has launched in Dorset and North Wales, and through the flexible case management provisions introduced by Practice Direction 36Y.
The Government intends to publish a full update on progress against commitments made in the Implementation Plan in due course.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the courts consideration of the welfare of children during private law children proceedings in the context of (a) safety measures (b) therapy services and (c) the Child Arrangements Programme.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Implementation Plan, published in response to ‘Assessing the Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Proceedings’, outlined the Government’s assessment of the expert panel’s report and committed to a number of actions to reform the system, including the Child Arrangements Programme and improving safety at court. Since then, measures to better protect victims of domestic abuse and their children in the family court have been introduced via Sections 63, 65 and 67 of the Domestic Abuse Act. In addition, we are testing reforms to the Child Arrangements Programme and seeking to enhance the voice of the child through the Investigative Approach pilot which has launched in Dorset and North Wales, and through the flexible case management provisions introduced by Practice Direction 36Y.
The Government intends to publish a full update on progress against commitments made in the Implementation Plan in due course.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to establish protocols to limit the contact abuse perpetrators can have with their victims following private law proceedings.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Protecting victims of domestic abuse remains a priority for this Government. A range of orders can already be made by the court to limit contact between perpetrators and victims following private family law proceedings. These include non-molestation and occupation orders, orders under Section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989, and orders for indirect or supervised contact under the Child Arrangements Programme.
In addition, pursuant to Part 3 of the Domestic Abuse Act, we will introduce a new domestic abuse protection order which will bring together the strongest elements of the existing protective order regime into a single comprehensive, flexible order which will afford more effective and longer-term protection to victims of domestic abuse and their children.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to require the provision of independent therapeutic support for children during private proceedings.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Family breakdown is a difficult period in any child’s life and it is important that they are properly supported during this time. The court has an overriding duty to make the welfare of the child its paramount consideration when making decisions on family law applications.
Children and young people’s mental health services are provided by a range of organisations including NHS mental health and community trusts, local authorities and the private and voluntary sectors, and the Government recognises the vital role these services can play in supporting children and young people. However, there are currently no plans to specifically require such provision for children during private law proceedings.