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Dept for Education and Skills

Answer

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many reports were completed by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) in the last financial year; and in how many cases contact between children and the father was absent at the commencement of proceedings and then re-established following the intervention of CAFCASS staff. [194222] Margaret Hodge: CAFCASS completed 33,803 reports in the last financial year. CAFCASS does not record the number of cases where contact between children and their father was absent. However, a one-off survey of 300 families (carried out by the National Association of Probation Officers in the summer of 2002) reported that prior to commencement of CAFCASS involvement, there was no contact with the non-resident parent in 42 per cent. of cases; following the completion of CAFCASS work, only 6 per cent. of non-resident parents remained without contact. The information in the survey was non gender specific. A survey conducted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) asked a sample of resident and a sample of non-resident parents about the contact arrangements with their children following relationship breakdown. Results for the non-resident parent sample showed that 78 per cent. of children whose parents had made informal contact arrangements had direct (face-to-face) contact with their non-resident fathers at least once a month. The resident parents sample reported that 61 per cent. of children had direct contact at least once a month.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

194222; 426 c461W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Children CAFCASS Divorce Family courts Parents Separation

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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