Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of care proceedings cases have not been heard within the six month limit in each of the last three years.
Information relating to the time to the first definitive disposal for care proceedings is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. The table below details the latest published statistics on the total number of disposals in care proceedings, the mean and medial disposal duration (in weeks), and the proportion of disposals made within 26 weeks, in each of the last three years.
The number of disposals relates to the number of children subject to a disposal outcome. The following outcomes are considered as disposals for the purposes of these statistics:
The latest Family Courts Statistics Quarterly publication can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2020
Year | Total Disposals | Mean disposal duration (weeks) | Median disposal duration (weeks) | % disposed in 26 weeks | |
2017 |
| 26,221 | 28.2 | 25.3 | 57% |
2018 |
| 25,849 | 30.4 | 26.4 | 49% |
2019 |
| 23,837 | 33.2 | 29.6 | 41% |