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157084

	registered interest
	date	20/11/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service staff dealing with child protection cases involving children from minority religious faiths, such as the Charedim, have the necessary expertise to assess the impact of faith on those children when they advise the courts.
	tabling member printed	Lord Warner
	uin	HL3029
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2014 answer text <p /> <p>All Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) practitioners are qualified social workers with experience of working with children and families to represent the best interests of children within family proceedings. It is the practitioner's responsibility to identify any diversity issues, including a child or family’s faith, in any case and to assess any safeguarding or welfare issues. Practitioners will analyse each individual child's circumstances, taking account of relevant aspects of the Welfare Checklist in section 1 of the Children Act 1989, when assessing their needs and how these are best met.</p><p> </p><p>Each Cafcass service area has a responsibility to identify the diversity needs of groups of children living in their area who they are working with, and to take action accordingly. Cafcass’ Equality and Diversity Strategy (2013-15) explains how it shares best practice across teams and service areas, collating lessons learnt from a range of sources. Where staff attend training courses, the learning is shared with the rest of the service area and communicated to Cafcass’ group of Diversity Ambassadors. Representatives from local groups are invited to team meetings to discuss the work that they do and practitioners are encouraged to use these groups as a resource when considering casework decisions.</p> answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 04/12/2014 16:02:53 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
	tabling member	1732 label Biography information for Lord Warner

458152

	registered interest
	date	07/03/2016
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the performance of the Cafcass in (a) domestic abuse cases and (b) other private law cases.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
	uin	29952
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2016 answer text <p>The Government has made no specific assessment of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service’s (Cafcass) performance in cases where domestic violence or abuse is alleged or admitted. However, in 2014, Ofsted inspected Cafcass as a national organisation. It judged that as a minimum all children, young people and families receive a service where the quality and effectiveness of Cafcass private law practice is ‘good’. The protective measures of a non-molestation order or occupation order available from the family court for an adult party in cases of domestic violence or abuse do not involve Cafcass.</p><p> </p><p>In relation to other private law cases involving children, Cafcass is most often involved in proceedings for a child arrangements order where parents are in dispute. In every case where a child arrangements order is sought, Cafcass undertakes safeguarding checks with the police and local authority. Relevant matters are communicated to the court prior to the first hearing via a safeguarding letter. In this way, Cafcass provides judges with the information they need to ensure that any decisions made are safe for the child and adult parties.</p> answering member constituency Gosport answering member printed Caroline Dinenage question first answered 15/03/2016 14:11:23 answering member 4008 label Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage
	tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

539680

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2016
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment her Department has made of the performance of Cafcass.
	tabling member constituency	Bootle
	tabling member printed	Peter Dowd
	uin	43059
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/07/2016 answer text <p>The Government is confident that the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) continues to provide high quality social work advice to support decisions by the courts in cases involving children. This reflects the outcome of the inspection in 2014 by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) which judged that as a minimum all children, young people and families receive a service where the quality and effectiveness of Cafcass practice is ‘good’.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the department regularly assesses Cafcass’ efficiency and effectiveness and holds Cafcass to account for its performance, governance and stewardship of public funds.</p> answering member constituency Bracknell answering member printed Dr Phillip Lee grouped question UIN 43060 question first answered 26/07/2016 16:11:22 answering member 3921 label Biography information for Dr Phillip Lee
	tabling member	4397 label Biography information for Peter Dowd

539681

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2016
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans to carry out a review of the organisational efficiency and effectiveness of Cafcass.
	tabling member constituency	Bootle
	tabling member printed	Peter Dowd
	uin	43060
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/07/2016 answer text <p>The Government is confident that the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) continues to provide high quality social work advice to support decisions by the courts in cases involving children. This reflects the outcome of the inspection in 2014 by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) which judged that as a minimum all children, young people and families receive a service where the quality and effectiveness of Cafcass practice is ‘good’.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the department regularly assesses Cafcass’ efficiency and effectiveness and holds Cafcass to account for its performance, governance and stewardship of public funds.</p> answering member constituency Bracknell answering member printed Dr Phillip Lee grouped question UIN 43059 question first answered 26/07/2016 16:11:22 answering member 3921 label Biography information for Dr Phillip Lee
	tabling member	4397 label Biography information for Peter Dowd

598106

	registered interest
	date	10/10/2016
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the protection of children in care and children in need of delays in the work undertaken by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.
	tabling member printed	Lord Ouseley
	uin	HL2135
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2016 answer text <p>Data collected by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) shows that, since April 2012, the average time to complete care and supervision applications has reduced from 48 weeks to 30 weeks. These are the proceedings most commonly initiated by a local authority and Cafcass has played a key role in working with other parts of the family justice system to achieve that reduction.</p><p> </p><p>Since April 2012, Cafcass has also exceeded its targets to allocate at least 97% of the open public law care workload to an appointed Children’s Guardian, and to allocate care applications to an appointed Children’s Guardian in no more than 3 working days.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 24/10/2016 13:21:08 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
	tabling member	2170 label Biography information for Lord Ouseley

89861

	registered interest
	date	29/08/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints have been (a) made and (b) upheld against the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service in the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Newbury
	tabling member printed	Richard Benyon
	uin	207300
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p>The following table sets out the number of complaints received by Cafcass in each of the last three years:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial</strong></p><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of complaints </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>1,264</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>1,496</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>1,596</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In 2012 Cafcass simplified their complaints process, reducing the number of stages involved from three to one and ending the classification of complaints as ‘upheld’. Figures for the number of upheld complaints during this period do not, therefore, exist. The focus of the complaints system is now on putting things right for service users while their case is ongoing so that any necessary remedial action can be taken.</p><p> </p><p>The rising trend shown by the figures is, in part, a reflection of the increase in the volume of cases which Cafcass dealt with during this period. However, the main factors which have contributed to the rising trend are Cafcass’ focus on raising awareness of the complaints process for service users.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes grouped question UIN 207284 question first answered 05/09/2014 15:12:49 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon

89868

	registered interest
	date	29/08/2014
	answering body	Ministry of Justice
	answering dept id	54
	answering dept short name	Justice
	answering dept sort name	Justice
	hansard heading	CAFCASS
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints have been made against the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service in the last three years; and how many such complaints have been upheld.
	tabling member constituency	Newbury
	tabling member printed	Richard Benyon
	uin	207284
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p>The following table sets out the number of complaints received by Cafcass in each of the last three years:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial</strong></p><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of complaints </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>1,264</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>1,496</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>1,596</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In 2012 Cafcass simplified their complaints process, reducing the number of stages involved from three to one and ending the classification of complaints as ‘upheld’. Figures for the number of upheld complaints during this period do not, therefore, exist. The focus of the complaints system is now on putting things right for service users while their case is ongoing so that any necessary remedial action can be taken.</p><p> </p><p>The rising trend shown by the figures is, in part, a reflection of the increase in the volume of cases which Cafcass dealt with during this period. However, the main factors which have contributed to the rising trend are Cafcass’ focus on raising awareness of the complaints process for service users.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark answering member printed Simon Hughes grouped question UIN 207300 question first answered 05/09/2014 15:12:49 answering member 194 label Biography information for Simon Hughes
	tabling member	1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon