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Courts: Family Cases

I am pleased to inform the House that I have today laid before Parliament and placed in the Libraries of both Houses the responses to the Government’s Confidence and Confidentiality: Improving Transparency and Privacy in Family Courts consultation paper, which was published on 11 July 2006. The document is available on the department's website at www.dca.gov.uk/consult/confr.htm. We will also be publishing a young people’s guide. There were 245 formal responses to the consultation and additional contributions through stakeholder events and discussion forums. The Government were pleased to receive responses from all sides of the debate and are grateful for the respondents’ comments and suggestions. I am particularly grateful for the important contribution that children and young people have made to this consultation. We have considered what people have said very carefully and will reflect on the responses before bringing forward our proposals.