Family Law (Hansard, 2 February 1990)

Mr. Robert G. Hughes
To ask the Attorney-General when the family law and administration working party intends to report its interim deliberations for consultation.

§ Mr. Key
To ask the Attorney-General when the family law and administration working party intends to report its interim deliberations for consultation.

§ Mrs. Fyfe
To ask the Attorney-General when the family law and administration working party intends to report its interim deliberations for consultation.

§ The Attorney-General
The role of the family law and administration working party is to oversee and where necessary co-ordinate advice to Ministers on matters within the announced rolling programme to review family law and administration. Accordingly it is not expected itself to publish reports or consultation documents.

§ Mr. Day
To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the rolling programme of family law reform promised in the later stages of the Children Act 1989.
397W

§ Sir George Young
To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the rolling programme of family law reform promised in the later stages of the Children Act 1989.

§ Mr. McAvoy
To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the rolling programme of family law reform promised in the later stages of the Children Act 1989.

§ The Attorney-General
The Government's rolling programme of review of family law and its administration includes:

(a) implementation of the Children Act 1989, including a review of court procedures;

(b) consideration of the Law Commission's report on divorce when it is received and with it the future provision of conciliation and reconciliation services;

(c) consideration of the law relating to financial provision in family cases;

(d) consideration of the Law Commission's report on domestic violence and rights to occupy the family home when received;

(e) the future provision and organisation of the services which provide independent and expert advice to the courts in family proceedings or which provide representation for the child or his interests; and

(f) consideration, in the light of other changes, of the jurisdiction of the courts in family matters.
The Government have set up an interdepartmental working party, the family law and administration working party, to oversee and, where necessary, to co-ordinate advice to Ministers on implementation of the Children Act 1989 and matters falling within the rolling programme.

§ Mr. Rowe
To ask the Attorney-General if the family law and administration working party is considering the future of welfare and conciliation services; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Gregory
To ask the Attorney-General if the family law and administration working party is considering the future of welfare and conciliation services; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Squire
To ask the Attorney-General if the family law and administration working party is considering the future of welfare and conciliation services; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Doran
To ask the Attorney-General if the family law and administration working party is considering the future of welfare and conciliation services.

§ The Attorney-General
The role of the family law and administration working party is to oversee and where necessary co-ordinate advice to Ministers on matters within the announced rolling programme to review family law and business. Work is in hand in the responsible Departments on the future of welfare and conciliation services but it is too early to say what the results may be.

§ Mr. David Shaw
To ask the Attorney-General when the family law and administration working party last met; and what matters were discussed.

§ Mr. Hayes
To ask the Attorney-General when the family law and administration working party last met; and what matters were discussed.

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Attorney-General when the family law and administration working party last met; and what matters were discussed.
398W

§ The Attorney-General
The family law and administration working party last met in November 1989, when it discussed the parliamentary passage of the Children Bill and progress towards the Bill's implementation, including training in the handling of children's cases.

§ Mr. French
To ask the Attorney-General if he has any proposals to increase the rate at which divorce hearings and child custody hearings are processed.

§ The Attorney-General
It is the aim of the Government that child custody cases should be processed expeditiously. When the Children Act 1989 comes into force it will re-emphasise the importance of avoiding delay in determining any issue relating to the upbringing of a child and will facilitate the imposition of timetables in such proceedings.

§ Mr. French
To ask the Attorney-General if he will introduce legislation to provide for indexing of maintenance payments in divorce proceedings to the retail price index.

§ The Attorney-General
No. The Government are, however, reviewing the arrangements for assessing, collecting and enforcing maintenance payments; and means of keeping the levels of maintenance awards up to date is one of the major aspects being addressed.

§ Mr. French
To ask the Attorney-General what information he has on the length of time taken to process(a) divorce hearings and (b) child custody hearings; and if he will make a statement.

§ The Attorney-General
The length of time a divorce hearing or child custody hearing takes from application to completion is subject to several factors, including the action of the parties.
The only measurement of time recorded is the interval between a request from the parties for a hearing, or at the instigation of the court, and the next date with sufficient time available to hear the case. It is not possible to distinguish between divorce or child custody hearings and other civil cases.

§ Mr. Waller
To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the future of welfare services and their role in resolving matrimonial disputes.

§ The Attorney-General
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I have given today to the questions on the rolling programme of family law reform.

§ Mr. Ian Bruce
To ask the Attorney-General when proposals from the family law and administration working party on the future of welfare and conciliation services will be available for consultation.

§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones
To ask the Attorney-General when proposals from the family law and administration working party on the future of welfare and conciliation services will be available for consultation.

§ Mr. Graham
To ask the Attorney-General when proposals from the family law and administration working party on the future of welfare and conciliation services will be available for consultation.

§ The Attorney-General
The role of the family law and administration working party is to oversee and where 399W necessary co-ordinate advice to Ministers on matters within the announced rolling programme to review family law and administration. Accordingly it is not expected to publish reports or consultation documents. Work is in hand in the responsible Departments on the future of welfare and conciliation services but it is too early to say what the results might be.

§ Mr. Paice
To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the future of the conciliation services.

§ Mr. Devlin
To ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement on the future of the conciliation services.

§ The Attorney-General
I refer my hon. Friends to the answer I gave on 29 January at column27.