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Written question asked by Greg Clark (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 June 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 June 2005. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Monday, 13 June 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

CAFCASS

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many cases remain to be allocated to a case worker in the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS); and what the average length of time is for allocation of new cases to a case worker, broken down by CAFCASS region in England.
Answer

The total number of CAFCASS unallocated Public Law Children Act 1989 cases (applications for local authority care and supervision orders and applications for adoption) at 31 March 2005 is 316, representing 2.7 per cent. of the caseload. This meets CAFCASS' key performance indicator target that the number of cases unallocated for the month should be no more than the target of 3 per cent. of the workload.A regional break-down of Public Law cases is provided in the following table which shows the number of unallocated cases by region.

CAFCASS—Public Law unallocated cases at 31 March 2005
Region
East Midlands 2
Eastern 15
Greater London 90
North East 20
North West 35
South East 41
South West 22
Wales 2
West Midlands 35
Yorks and Humberside 54
Total 316

In Public Law, CAFCASS' key performance indicator states that at least 98 per cent. of all public allocations each month for all case types should be within 28 days of receipt of request. In 2004/05 CAFCASS allocated 92.7 per cent. of it cases within 28 days.The total number of CAFCASS Private Law reports (as a consequence of applications for parental responsibility, residence and contact, where parents have been unable to reach agreement on these matters) unallocated less than 10 weeks before filing date as at 31 March 2005 is 168, representing 2 per cent. of the total caseload. In addition CAFCASS hold ““managed unallocated”” cases where the court has agreed a filing time later than the standard 10 to12 weeks.CAFCASS does not collect information on the length of time taken to allocate new Private Law cases to case workers by region. CAFCASS' key performance indicator states that the number of private law reports unallocated less than 10 weeks before the court filing date for the month should be no more than 4 per cent. of the total workload.A regional break-down for Private Law work unallocated less than 10 weeks before filing date is provided in the following table.

CAFCASS—Private Law unallocated cases at 31 March 2005
Region Number of unallocated reports less than 10 weeks before court filing date
East Midlands 0
Eastern 0
Greater London 3
North East 15
North West 21
South East 12
South West 77
Wales 1
West Midlands 13
Yorks and Humberside 26
Total 168

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
435 c187-9W; 3622
Session
2005-06
Subjects
CAFCASS
Contains statistics
Yes