§ Mr. LivseyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many court welfare officers in England and Wales received training in(a) 1997 and (b) 1998 to deal with access arrangements for children following separation and divorce; [104396]
(2) what training courses exist for court welfare officers to deal with the problem of parental alienation. [104397]
§ Mr. BoatengThe comprehensive induction programme for family court welfare officers includes modules on working with children and separating families. Available records indicate that 75 people completed the whole programme in the period April 1997 to March 1998, and 50 in the period April 1998 to March 1999. The need for any additional training is assessed by individual probation services and provided by either the service itself or an external agent. No information is collected centrally on this additional training.