§ Mr. Baldryasked the Attorney-General whether he is prepared to consider making legal aid available for parents of children subject to care orders.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralIn so far as proceedings concern an unopposed application to discharge a 407W supervision or care order and the court orders that the parent shall not be treated as representing the child, legal aid has been available to the parent since November 1976.
As has already been announced, from 1 April 1984 legal aid will be available to the parent in all care proceedings where the court orders that he shall not be treated as representing the child. As an interim measure the Lord Chancellor extended assistance by way of representation to parents involved in these cases on 1 May 1983.
The Government intend to implement in January 1984 the provision in the Healh and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983 which extend legal aid to parents of children in care to enable them to apply to the court for an access order where access has been terminated by the local authority concerned.