Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how the cost of contact is assessed when a contact centre is used as part of domestic violence cases.

Practice Direction 12J sets out that the family court will, on a case by case basis, make decisions on the details of contact where domestic abuse has happened - “Where any domestic abuse has occurred but the court, having considered any expert risk assessment and having applied the welfare checklist, nonetheless considers that direct contact is safe and beneficial for the child, the court should consider what, if any, directions or conditions are required to enable the order to be carried into effect”

The cost of child contact at a contact centre can vary significantly dependent on how the particular centre is funded, the range of services on offer and the expertise of the staff.

Many contact centres acknowledge that finance can be a barrier to children having contact and are able to provide support or signposting to other services that have the resource to be able to support parents.