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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what encouragement departments and agencies give to fathers in keeping in contact with their children after separation. - Inc figures.

Asked by

Brian Jenkins (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Education and Skills

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

30 October 2003

For answer on

17 November 2003

Answered on

17 November 2003

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what encouragement departments and agencies give to fathers in keeping in contact with their children after separation. [136442] Margaret Hodge: The Government's approach to the issue of child contact is based on the principle in the Children Act 1989, that in all decisions and arrangements about child contact, the child's best interests must be paramount. Figures from recent studies and surveys indicate as follows: 60 per cent. of non-resident parents agreed contact with the resident parent. 77 per cent. of non-resident parents saw their children every day, or at least once a week, or at least once a month. (Office for National Statistics survey). 47 per cent. of all non-resident fathers were having at least weekly contact, 68 per cent. at least monthly contact and only 3 per cent. had no contact at all, with their children. (Bradshaw, Stimson, Skinner and Williams--"Absent Fathers?" 1999). 69 per cent. of formerly married parents reported on-going contact. Only 5 per cent. reported that there had never been any contact and 27 per cent. said contact had been interrupted or had ended. (McLean and Eekelaar--"The Parental Obligation: a study of parenthood across households" 1997). The Government believe that children generally benefit from the continued involvement of both parents in their lives following divorce or separation, with the interests of the child always being paramount. I am currently considering our response to the Report of the Children Act Sub-committee of the Advisory Board on Family Law "Making Contact Work" to see what further practical steps we can take to facilitate and support contact between children and their parents. Meanwhile, the Government have already taken the following initiatives: have published the Parenting Plan, designed to help parents make practical arrangements for their children following divorce or separation, and age-related information leaflets for children concerned; are supporting a publicity campaign to emphasise the benefits of safe contact for children and to encourage parents to resolve disputes constructively; have made available public funding for family mediation for the resolution of disputes over children. 250 services now have contracts to provide family mediation and in 2001/02 are expanding the provision of child contact facilities.

Date

17 November 2003

Reference

136442; 413 c539-40W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Education and Skills

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what action he will take to alleviate hardship arising from top-up fees for students whose family relationship has been broken. - Inc figures.

Asked by

Lord Boswell of Aynho (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Education and Skills

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

3 November 2003

Reference

134496; 412 c453-4W;412 c462W

House

House of Commons

Filkin, Lord

Answered by

Lord Filkin (Labour)

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

29 October 2003

Reference

654 c266

House

House of Lords

Filkin, Lord

What plans they have to introduce a legal presumption for parents to have continuing contact with their child following a divorce or separation.

Asked by

Baroness Buscombe (Conservative)

Oral questions - Lead

Status

Answered

Date

29 October 2003

Reference

654 c266

House

House of Lords

Filkin, Lord

1st supplementary on same.

Asked by

Baroness Buscombe (Conservative)

Oral questions - 1st Supplementary

Status

Answered

Date

29 October 2003

Reference

654 c266

House

House of Lords

Filkin, Lord

Answered by

Lord Filkin (Labour)

Type

Oral answers to questions

Date

29 October 2003

Reference

654 c266

House

House of Lords

Dept for Education and Skills

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the powers of the courts to enforce paternal access to children following relationship breakdown; and if he will make a statement. - Inc ref to "Making Contact Work".

Asked by

Lord Soley (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Education and Skills

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

1 September 2003

Reference

125801; 409 c779W;409 c778-9W

House

House of Commons

Home Office

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the links between crime levels and (a) poverty, (b) income inequality, (c) legal drug abuse, (d) illegal use of drugs and (e) family break-up; and if he will make a statement. - Includes...

Asked by

David Laws (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

31 January 2003

For answer on

12 February 2003

Answered on

12 February 2003

Mr. Laws:: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the links between crime levels and (a) poverty, (b) income inequality, (c) legal drug abuse, (d) illegal use of drugs and (e) family break-up; and if he will make a statement. [95724] Mr. Denham: The British Crime Survey (BCS) 2001-02 provides information on victims of crime and includes statistics on risks of crime by household type for burglary (table 4.03), vehicle thefts (table 5.04) and violent crime (6.02). Figures are broken down into categories which include household income, employment status and area type. More detailed analysis of the risks of burglary, based on the 1998 BCS, was published in 1999. This analysis did not show an independent link between risk of burglary victimisation and household income. The BCS 2001-02 also published risks by types of neighbourhood. This showed that people living in the more deprived `striving areas' tended to experience higher risks generally, although there was also an increased risk in `rising areas', such as affluent urban areas. In terms of offending, poverty has been identified as one of the potential risk factors associated with offending. For example, a study of working class boys found that a combination of low income, poor housing and large family size consistently identified an increased risk of self-reported offending, criminal convictions and both juvenile and adult offending (Farrington 1992b and 1992c). The new English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme, which involves interviewing and drug testing adults arrested by the police, confirms a link between drug misuse and crime. Analysis on the links between crime, family background and drug use is published in the 1998-99 Youth Lifestyles Survey. This examined the extent to which various factors were associated with offending among young people aged 12 to 30. Figures show, for example, that young people who lived in a lone parent or a step parent family were more likely to be serious or persistent offenders than those who lived with their natural parents. However, persistent, serious conflict between parents, or between a parent and a child, appears to be more important, in this respect, than family structure. While some structures--notably lone parent families--are correlated with an increased risk that children will offend, the evidence suggests that this is a product of factors that also affect children in two- parent families. Drug users were also more likely to be serious or persistent offenders than non-drug users. In the spring we intend to publish a series of reports on the relationship between binge-drinking by young people and offending. Work is also being undertaken on a literature review on the relationship between alcohol and violence.

Date

12 February 2003

Reference

95724; 399 c771-2W;399 c769-70W

House

House of Commons

CHILDREN AND SHARED PARENTING

That this House believes that children are best brought up with the full involvement of both their natural parents and, if possible, grandparents and members of their wider family; further believes that all children of separated parents are entitled to the love, personal care and support of both their natural...

Primary sponsor

Edward Leigh (Conservative)

Type

Early day motions

Date

21 January 2003

Reference

546

House

House of Commons

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