Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the undertakings given by Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 14 November 2005 (Official Report, cols. 861–3), what progress has been made in commissioning and carrying out research into decisions made by the family court on contact arrangements between a child and his or her non-resident parent.
Answer
Following the undertaking given during the passage of the (then) Children and Adoption Bill, the Government commissioned a research project ““Making orders for contact between children and parents with whom they do not share a household””. This research is currently underway. The research centres on an analysis of data from just over 300 court files across 11 family courts in England and Wales. This will be supplemented by an analysis of hearing transcripts for a percentage of the files involved, which will provide more detail in respect of the evidence and argument used to inform the court's decision. Short interviews with members of the judiciary, lawyers and CAFCASS officers have also been conducted. The work is progressing well and it is expected that the final report will be completed in the early part of 2008.