§ Mr. OlnerTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many children have been taken abroad by one parent against the wishes of the other parent in the last year of record.
Mr. John M. TaylorNo statistics are kept of the total number of children taken abroad unlawfully by one parent against the wishes of the other. However, in the year 1991, the child abduction unit of the Lord Chancellor's Department, which acts as the central authority for applications in England and Wales under the Hague convention of 1980 and the European convention of 1980, processed 108 applications involving 149 children who were said to have been wrongfully removed to other contracting states under those conventions.