§ Keith VazTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will take act ions against countries that deny British parents reasonable access to their children held abroad. [89054]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe Lord Chancellor is designated as the Central Authority for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and European Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions concerning Custody of Children and on the Restoration of Custody and Children. Should there be clear evidence of countries which are contracting states to those conventions holding children of British parents and denying those parents reasonable access to their children in breach of their obligations under the conventions, consideration would of course be given to all appropriate courses of action to rectify the situation.