§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills further to the Appeal Court judgment in the Rv. Cannings case, what specific action he has initiated to review the cases of children removed from their parents in the family courts which have involved expert witness testimony from (a) Professor Sir Roy Meadow and (b) others on the expert witness list for (i) their expertise in Munchausen's syndrome by proxy and (ii) causing child death by shaking. [152136]
§ Margaret HodgeI made a statement to the House on 23 February 2004, following the Appeal Court's judgment in the appeal against the conviction of Angela Cannings. In this statement I announced the action that I have asked local authorities with social services responsibilities to take.
First, for them to consider those cases which are affected by the Attorney-General's Review. In those cases, councils should stand ready to act in the light of the outcome of that review.
Secondly, within the next four weeks, for councils to identify and make their best efforts to review current cases. These are cases where they have commenced care proceedings in relation to a child and where the court has not yet made a final care order. In these cases councils should consider with their lawyers the implications, for those proceedings, of the Court of Appeal's judgment in the Cannings case.
Thirdly, within the next 12 weeks social services should, together with their lawyers, identify those cases where a final care order was made in the past, which involved harm to the child or a sibling, and where the making of the care order depended, exclusively or almost exclusively, on a serious disagreement between medical experts about the cause of the harm. In such cases, councils should again consider, with their lawyers, whether there are now doubts about the reliability of the expert medical evidence. If that is so and, in the light of the child's current circumstances and current best interests, they should then consider whether to apply to the court for the care order to be discharged, or whether to support any application that may be made by the parents or the child. Councils, when reviewing cases, will also need to take into account any fresh case law judgments from the appeal court that may be relevant.
890WWhere applications to the court are made, whether by the local authority, the parents or the child it will be for the court to decide, in all cases, if the care order should be discharged.
My statement set out a route forward for the period ahead within the limits of my ability to act. With this review and with the current and forthcoming judgments in both care proceedings and appeal cases in the courts we will ensure that we are acting in the best way possible to protect the interests of children both today and in the future.