The Lord Chancellor's Department's work on family policy has three main strands. We help couples try to save their marriages or other relationships. Where that does not work, we help them deal with the consequences of family breakdown with the least damage possible, especially to any children involved. Thirdly, we work to protect vulnerable people, e.g. those suffering domestic violence.
| Target To work with the voluntary sector to increase the availability of more effective and accessible marriage and relationship support, especially where children are involved. Where adult relationships do break down, we want to ensure that couples have the information and help they need, that children are enabled to remain in contact with both parents (where that is in their best interests) and that the arrangements are handled as well as possible (SDA 19). |
The Lord Chancellor has statutory responsibility for marriage and relationship support. He funds voluntary sector work in line with a strategic plan developed by his Advisory Group on Marriage and Relationship Support (AGMARS). In 2002 we published recommendations made by the Group:
Our priorities are preventive work and reaching those in most need and who can be the hardest to reach, including minority groups.
In family disputes, we aim to direct families and children to the service that best meets their needs. The pilot Family Advice and Information Networks (FAINs) are testing the provision of information and advice for people whose relationships break down and their referral to other services such as marriage support. We also encourage use of family mediation to resolve disputes in appropriate cases.
| Target To increase continued contact between children and the non-resident parent after a family breakdown, where this is in the best interests of the child and it is safe to do so (PSA 8). |
We commissioned a survey from the Office for National Statistics to assess existing levels of contact and whether couples reached agreement or whether contact was court-ordered. The evidence shows that it was strongly in the interests of children to remain in contact with both their parents: apart from the emotional benefits, fathers who had contact were much more likely to pay child maintenance. Thus when we provide services and information to divorcing or separating parents, we emphasise at every stage the importance of them remaining in contact with their children.
However, in some circumstances, contact is not in the best interest of the child and may pose a threat to the welfare of third parties, such as a risk of violence. We are careful to take this into account. We have consulted widely and in February 2002 we held a seminar to consider the research in relation to our policies.
Following public consultation, the Children Act Sub-Committee of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Board on Family Law (CASC) published their report on the facilitation and enforcement of contact on 8 February 2002. The Government's initial response was published on 6 August 2002. Stakeholder groups are now considering CASC's recommendations and how they might be taken forward. The groups comprise members from the judiciary, legal professions, CAFCASS, academia, the voluntary sector and other government departments. They are considering how to improve means of communicating information to parents, improving ways of letting the court know about issues of violence or abuse and considering the court's role in enabling and enforcing contact, where this is in children's best interests. The CASC guidelines on parental contact with children where there has been domestic violence have been widely promulgated and incorporated into training and guidance, and have been received positively.
The Adoption and Children Act 2002 received Royal Assent on 7 November 2002. The Act reforms adoption procedures and puts children's welfare at the heart of the adoption process. The Department has introduced Specialist Adoption Centres and is currently assessing the time taken for adoption cases to be completed. We will shortly set an indicator for the acceptable time frame for the completion of cases. We are also evaluating user feedback on the service provided by the centres. The Act also provides that unmarried fathers who register the birth of their child jointly with the child's mother will acquire parental responsibility without further formality. This reflects the fact that one in four children is born outside marriage.
The Department has established an Implementation Project Board to guide the implementation of the Act's provisions. We will be working very closely with other departments, particularly the Department of Health, on measures for implementation. We also intend to consult stakeholders and practitioners on the implementation requirements.
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) is a non-departmental public body, set up in April 2001, providing services that support vulnerable children in family court proceedings in England and Wales. It has an important role in protecting the rights of children involved in court proceedings.
CAFCASS' primary duties as set out in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 are to:
CAFCASS published its first Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2001-02 in October 2002. It has also been able to develop a number of initiatives crucial to developing a unified, national organisation and improving its service delivery. In particular, CAFCASS has:
CAFCASS has also worked with the Department and senior judiciary to look at the causes of delay across the family justice system and how they can be addressed; and has contributed to various working groups underpinning the Department's objectives for children and families.
Many carers are expected to make decisions on behalf of incapacitated adults without a clear idea what legal authority there is for those decisions. In 1995 a Law Commission report set out proposals, including a draft Bill, for changes to the way that decisions are made on behalf of mentally incapacitated adults. The report identified a range of areas where legislative gaps caused difficulties. For instance, 'mental incapacity' is not clearly defined in current legislation, so those who have to make decisions on behalf of others adopt a variety of criteria in assessing capacity. These often take little or no account of the known wishes of the person without capacity.
In 1999 the Government set out its policy on mental incapacity in the Making Decisions policy statement and work has now begun on drafting a Mental Incapacity Bill. Introduction of the Bill will depend on parliamentary time.
In the absence of legislation officials are currently taking forward a number of projects which will directly benefit mentally incapacitated adults within the current system. These include:
A Court of Protection Regional Hearing Pilot has recently been conducted at Preston Combined Court Centre. It has been shown to benefit parties by reducing the time, cost and anxiety involved in attending court. We hope to extend this pilot to other court circuits in England and Wales. The pilot has been welcomed by leading voluntary organisations such as Action on Elder Abuse, the Alzheimer's Society and Solicitors for the Elderly.
We are working closely with colleagues across Government, the judiciary, the voluntary sector and others to tackle domestic violence in all its forms. We want to make sure that victims of domestic violence have a swift and effective route to protection and perpetrators of violence are brought to justice. And we want to make sure that children can have satisfactory contact with both parents where this is in the best interests of the child and is safe for all family members. So we have:
Mental incapacity can strike anyone at any stage of his or her life. When this happens, life for both the person affected and their relatives or carers can change totally. Suddenly they become more vulnerable, often excluded from society and more at risk of financial abuse. In terms of their financial concerns, this is where the Public Guardianship Office (PGO) steps in to: discharge the decisions made by the Court of Protection on behalf of the mentally incapacitated person; provide a financial protection service to them; and support the people, be they relatives, friends or professionals, who manage the person's funds.
PGO's aim is to promote and protect the financial and social well-being of people with a mental incapacity by providing a seamless service that responds to their needs. Its objectives are to:
PGO replaced the Public Trust Office (PTO) in April 2001, when it assumed the mental health functions previously carried out by the PTO. The changes associated with this, including a major staff restructuring programme, coincided in early 2002 with relocation from central to north London. These combined events had a considerable effect on PGO's service delivery and staff turnover, causing a build-up of arrears and a deterioration of service. However, PGO has now carried out a major recovery programme to complete outstanding work, achieve stability and provide a base on which to improve service quality to customers. At the end of this calendar year overall items of outstanding work had been reduced from a high of 22,000 in July 2002 (with 12,170 of these being over 15 days old) to 3,395 items in January 2003, just 354 of these being over 15 days old. This has been achieved at the same time as managing a regular weekly incoming workload of over 8,000 items.
In addition to improving service delivery, PGO made progress in a number of other key areas:
PGO's focus in 2003-04 will be on improving core services to customers and putting in place systems that will enable consistent delivery of a high quality service.
| Target By 2004 to complete the review of 100% of accounts received or have requested further information within four weeks of receipt, with an interim target of 95% within six weeks by 2002 (to apply to both Receivership and Protection Divisions) (SDA 29). |
As at 31 January 2003, PGO had completed reviews of 100% of accounts within five weeks.
During the course of 2002, it became clear that this target was only focused on output of reviews, rather than on the quality of reviews. Consideration is therefore being given to revising this target to allow a greater focus on quality.
| Target By 2003 to collect 60% of accounts within two months of the accounting end date; 80% within four months of the accounting end date; and 100% within six months of the accounting end date or refer to the Court of Protection. (Applies to Protection Division only.) |
PGO collected 66% of accounts within two months of the accounting end date; 88% of accounts within four months of the accounting end date; and 100% within six months of the accounting end date.
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