§ Baroness Faithfullasked her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will estimate, for the most recent year for which figures are available, the number of applications concerning custody and other ancillary relief in the High Court or the county courts, and to estimate the average number of applications for each divorce.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)Information is not available in precisely the form requested. Taking the High Court and county courts together, there were in 1985 approximately 158,000 custody and access orders made in matrimo-nial proceedings and 104,000 orders for ancillary relief, including orders in favour of a child and orders for lump sum provision and property adjustment. There were also some 16,000 applications for maintenance pending suit. In the same year 190,481 divorce petitions were filed. It is not possible from these figures to estimate the average number of applications for each divorce.