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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many weeks it was taking to complete private law cases in each CAFCASS region on 31 July (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004. [197135] Margaret Hodge: Prior to 2004/05 CAFCASS did not collect data about the time taken to complete particular cases. However, there is now an expectation that private law reports are completed within 10-12 weeks of the request date to CAFCASS. In general CAFCASS teams that are unable to meet this requirement make arrangements with their courts to extend the timetable for preparing reports in specific cases. At regional level and for Wales the times taken to complete reports, for the period 1 April to 31 June 2004, were as follows: East Midlands--four teams met the 10-12 week standard and one team met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable; Eastern--three teams met the 10-12 week standard and two teams met the extended 15-16 weeks timetable; Greater London--four teams met the 10-12 week standard, one team met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable, one team met the extended 15-16 weeks timetable, one team met the extended over 17 weeks timetable; North East--one team met the 10-12 week standard, two teams met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable and one team met the extended over 17 weeks timetable; North West--two teams met the 10-12 week standard, four teams met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable, four teams met the extended 15-16 weeks timetable and one team met the extended over 17 weeks timetable; South East--five teams met the 10-12 week standard, one team met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable and six teams met the extended 15-16 weeks timetable; South West--two teams met the 10-12 week standard, three teams met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable, one team met the extended 15-16 weeks timetable, two teams met the agreed extended over 17 weeks timetable; West Midlands--three teams met the 10-12 week standard, two teams met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable and three teams met the extended 15-16 weeks timetable; Yorkshire and Humberside--10 teams met the 10-12 week standard and two teams met the extended 13-14 weeks timetable; Wales--nine teams met the 10-12 week standard. On a case-by-case basis timescales may be extended by the courts where the needs of the case require it. This approach would apply across all regions and is not related to resource issues. CAFCASS has been given an additional £12 million this year to improve performance. A new Board was appointed in April 2004 and a new Chief Executive was appointed on 1 September. They are committed to driving forward improvements in the Service.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c968-9W;426 c972-3W; 197135

Session

2003-04

Subjects

CAFCASS Standards

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk