PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(23 June 2025)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to implement all recommendations made in the Ministry of Justice report entitled Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases, published in June 2020, as part of her Department's planned Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

Asked by:
Dr Scott Arthur (Labour)

The Government was elected with a mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. As part of this we are committed to ensuring everyone involved in private law children cases in the family courts is protected from harm and that the welfare of the child is always the court’s paramount consideration when making decisions about children’s lives.

In May 2023, the Ministry of Justice published a delivery update which outlined the progress made against the recommendations of the Final Report on Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases. This can be found on GOV.UK.

The Ministry of Justice has already taken forward many of the actions it committed to following the report, including announcing family court reforms, such as expanding our Pathfinder programme in the family court which is improving the experience of children, and domestic abuse survivors in private law court proceedings relating to children. The Government will be publishing its new cross-government strategy later this summer, which will outline how we aim to meet our ambition to tackle violence against women and girls.

Answered by:
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