Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2020 to Question 114866 on Care Proceedings, how many and what proportion of care proceedings cases have not been heard within the six month limit in each of the last three quarters in 2020.

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.

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 making of a Care Order, Supervision Order, Residence order or Special Guardianship Order;
• A decision by the court to make no order; and
• The withdrawal of an application.

The table details the statistics available for the last three quarters, covering the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first and second quarter of 2020. Validated statistics for the third quarter of 2020 are not yet available to the Ministry of Justice and are due to be published on 17 December 2020.

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