Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how often the judiciary in family courts including the lay bench have mandatory specialist training on domestic abuse.

Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, responsibility for the training of the judiciary rests with the Lord Chief Justice as Head of the Judiciary. This is exercised through the Judicial College under judicial direction. The Lord Chief Justice requires judges and magistrates to attend induction training before sitting in Private Family law cases, which includes a module on dealing with domestic abuse, and thereafter attend continuation training for the family jurisdiction, which also includes a domestic abuse module, on a minimum of a three-year cycle. Judicial guidance on domestic abuse in child arrangements and contact cases is provided by Practice Direction 12J and vulnerable persons’ participation by Practice Direction 3AA which are available under the procedure rules on the justice website.

The Judicial College produces two core training packs on domestic abuse specifically for magistrates: one for the criminal jurisdiction, and one for the family jurisdiction about domestic abuse and its effects, including the effect of domestic abuse on children. The Family Court Bench Book to support magistrates was updated and re-published in 2018.