PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (18 July 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of Hague Convention on Child Abduction cases in England and Wales in each year since 2004; how many children were ordered to remain in England and Wales as a result of those cases; and how many children were allowed to leave the country as a result of those cases.

Asked by:
Wes Streeting (Labour)

The statistics currently available on the number of cases under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction for the years 2014 to 2016 are at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/643446/rcj-tables-2016.xlsx

at tabs 4.2 and 4.3. There are no currently verified statistics for the years 2004-2013 or after 2016. A case can involve more than one child. The known decisions of the court in these cases on return or non-return are as shown in the table. Information on how many children were the subject of return orders or non-return orders could only be obtained by analysis of individual case files at disproportionate cost.

Answered by:
Lucy Frazer (Conservative)
23 July 2018