Written Evidence Mar. 17 2025
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: This evidence focuses on domestic abuse and victims of it of all genders.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure legal aid is accessible to people using the family courts in the North West.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
With regards to scope, in private family proceedings, legal aid is available for matters such as child arrangements, financial remedy proceedings and divorce if an individual is a victim of domestic abuse or is at risk of being abused.
Legal aid is also available in certain private family proceedings if a child is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse. Funding is subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse as specified in legal aid legislation and meeting the relevant merits and financial eligibility criteria.
A financial eligibility waiver is available for victims of domestic abuse applying for protective injunctions, such as non-molestation orders, which means they can receive legal aid even if they would not otherwise pass the means test, though they may be required to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs.
In public family proceedings, means-free legal aid is available for parents, those with parental responsibility, and children in public family law special Children Act’s cases, including care proceedings and adoption proceedings under the Children Act 1989 as well as in related proceedings.
Legal aid funded services are provided by independent organisations who hold contracts to carry out legal aid work. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for the commissioning and procurement of these contracts. The LAA is satisfied that there is adequate supply of family law services in the North West of England.
Written Evidence Mar. 17 2025
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: Girls, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, and Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot scheme on the resources of Greater Manchester Police.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) are the first order to cover all forms of domestic abuse including economic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour and are the first cross-jurisdictional order available in the family, civil and criminal courts to protect victims. They can impose notification requirements, electronic monitoring and attendance to a behaviour change programme. Breach of a DAPO is a criminal offence punishable by up to 5 years’ imprisonment. Greater Manchester Police was the first force to secure a custodial sentence for a breach of a DAPO.
We have commissioned an evaluation of DAPOs to gather evidence to understand how DAPOs are working in practice. The evaluation will include an assessment of how police are resourcing DAPOs.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal mechanisms available to victims of (a) coercive control and (b) other abuse when family courts do not enforce child custody arrangements.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
A Child Arrangement Order may be made by the family court to specify whom a child should live with, spend time with or otherwise have contact with.
If the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a person has failed to comply with a Child Arrangement Order, the court has a range of powers available, they can: issue fines, enforcement (and suspended enforcement) orders, and orders for compensation for financial loss, and ultimately to commit an individual to prison, as well as varying the Child Arrangements Order to include a more defined order or a reconsideration of the child’s living or contact arrangements.
The Department operates a fee system in which those who engage with courts and tribunals are asked to fund some of the cost of administration, where they can afford to do so. This aligns with HM Treasury’s Managing Public Money guidelines, which recommends that fees are charged at a level to recover the full cost of their underpinning service.
The Department recognises that the Lord Chancellor has a duty to ensure access to justice for all those seeking support from a court or tribunal. The Help with Fees scheme offers partial and full remissions to those who cannot afford to pay a court or tribunal fee. Some fees, including those payable for applications relating to child arrangements, are intentionally set below their underpinning cost to further protect access to justice.
Legal aid is available for private family matters, including an enforcement order following the breach of a child arrangements order if an individual is a victim of domestic abuse or at risk of being abused. This funding is subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests.
Written Evidence Mar. 17 2025
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: and perpetrators within relationships (with and without cohabitation); research on domestic abuse of
Mar. 27 2025
Source Page: Private Law Pathfinder delivery updateFound: outcomes for children and parents involved in private family law proceedings, including those who have
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to protect parties during family court proceedings.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to ensuring the family court system is safe and supportive for all parties, particularly those who are survivors of domestic abuse.
Family courts have various tools available to protect participants. Courts have the power to prohibit the cross-examination of domestic abuse survivors by their abusers. Victims of domestic abuse are automatically considered to be vulnerable when the court is determining whether to make special measures, such as allowing someone to give evidence by video link, or from behind a screen. The Family Procedure Rules and Practice Directions allow for Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Independent Sexual Violence Advisers to accompany parties in the courtroom.
In proceedings relating to children, the court has powers under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 to make orders to prevent a person from making applications to court without prior permission from the court, for example where further proceedings would risk causing harm to parents or children.
Mar. 27 2025
Source Page: Private Law Pathfinder Pilot: process evaluation and financial analysisFound: analysis of the Pathfinder pilots in Dorset and North Wales family court areas.
Found: A quarter of domestic abuse homicide and suicide victims are aged 65 or over, predominantly female –