§ Sir Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his answer of 22 October 2003,Official Report, column 630, on divorced parents, if he will (a) commission research into the number of divorced fathers who maintain effective contact with their children and (b) take steps to monitor the welfare of children, when the children's mother is granted leave to remove them from the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [136101]
§ Mr. LammyBefore granting leave to take children abroad, the courts will consider all the relevant issues and, as required by the Children Act 1989, have the best interests of the child as their paramount concern. Therefore, children will only be taken abroad with the leave of the court where it judges such a step to be in their best interests. Such children will be living in many parts of the world and it would not be appropriate or practical for the UK Government to exercise a monitoring role. There are, therefore, no current plans to commission research or to introduce a monitoring role in this area.