§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps he is taking to standardise the issuing of family assistance orders. [109571]
§ Jane KennedySection 16 of the Children Act 1989 enables a court to issue a family assistance order requiring a probation officer or local authority officer to advise, assist and (where appropriate) befriend a child, any parent or guardian of a child, or any person with whom the child is living or who has an order for contact with the child. Family assistance orders last for a maximum of six months. They require the consent of any person named in the order other than the child himself or herself, and may not be made unless the circumstances of the case are exceptional. Consequently, the number of such orders made is small (in 1999 there were 43 in the High Court and 701 in county courts). The decision whether or not a case is exceptional, and whether a family assistance order
518W
£ Type of childcare provision Number of parents using childcare Cost to parents Cabinet Office Holiday playscheme 41 1,951 Civil Service College Nursery 9 34,476 COI Holiday playscheme 3 112 CCTA Holiday playscheme 0 0 would be in the best interests of the child, if those concerned agree, is necessarily one for the courts to take in the light of the facts of each case. Standardization would therefore not be appropriate.