Family Justice Council Annual Report 2007-08
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Family Justice Council Report and Accounts 2007-08 Contents | Report and Accounts 2007-08 Contents Foreword by the President 2 Chapter 1 How the Council works 4 Chapter 2 Overview of Activities and Issues in 2007/08 8 Chapter 3 The Children in Families Committee 14 Chapter 4 The Children in Safeguarding Proceedings Committee 18 Chapter 5 The Money and Property Committee 22 Chapter 6 The Diversity Committee 26 Chapter 7 The Dartington Hall Conference 30 Chapter 8 The Experts Committee 32 Chapter 9 The Voice of the Child Sub-Group 36 Chapter 10 The Domestic Violence Working Group 40 Chapter 11 The Education and Training Committee 44 Chapter 12 Local Family Justice Councils 48 Chapter 13 Challenges for 2008/09 52 Annex A The Terms of Reference of the Family Justice Council 56 Annex B Membership of the Family Justice Council 57 Annex C Expenditure 2007/08 and Budget for 2008/09 73 Annex D Business Plan 2008/09 74 1 Report and Accounts 2007-08 | Foreword Foreword by the President The third annual report of the Family Justice Council covers a year which saw proposals for change in the family justice system continue apace. The Council has, therefore, devoted much of its time to providing authoritative advice to Government on these proposals based on its uniquely inter-disciplinary perspective. Two issues are particularly worthy of note: the Public Law Outline and the decision of the Legal Services Commission to withdraw from funding assessments of capacity to parent. As to the first, I was grateful to the Council for the quality of its contribution to the development of a new approach to case management in public law cases which has now found expression in the Public Law Outline. As to the second, the Council accepted that Legal Aid was not the most appropriate source for funding assessments. However, it made vigorous representations to Government stressing the value to the courts of assessments and of the need for alternative sources of funding to come on stream before the existing arrangements come to an end. I have been pleased to learn that progress has since been made in developing new funding arrangements for assessments which are vital if parents are to be given a fair chance to demonstrate that they can care adequately for their children. The Family Justice Council is in an unrivalled position to enter into dialogue with Government on issues of this nature because its inter-disciplinary character gives it a wider and more holistic perspective than narrower, sectional interests can provide. The national Family Justice Council is supported by 39 Local Family Justice Councils covering England and Wales. The Local Councils have made their own important contribution to the responses to consultations which the Council has submitted during the period covered by this report. The Local Councils are a valuable source of information about what is happening on the ground, across the country, and their input lends weight to the Council’s views. On my visits to different parts of the country I have been widely impressed by the high standard of the training events which the Local Councils organise. 2 Foreword | Report and Accounts 2007-08 I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the members of the Council for the time and energy which they have given to its work. It is a mark of the commitment of the Council’s members to improving the family justice system, and especially the experience of the children and parents who use it, that in the midst of their busy professional lives they have produced advice and other work of such high quality, and all without remuneration or other reward. I am also grateful to the wider circle of people who have given freely of their time and expertise to serve on the Council’s committees and on the Local Family Justice Councils. I also wish to acknowledge the important and helpful contribution made by officials from, in particular, the Ministry of Justice, Her Majesty’s Courts Service and the Department for Children, Schools and Families in their positive engagement with the Council on a wide range of issues. Finally, I and Lord Justice Thorpe, and all the Council members, would like to thank our secretariat for their diligence in getting things done, over the last year, as well as all the court staff who support the work of the Local Family Justice Councils across England and Wales. Sir Mark Potter President 3 Chapter 1 How the Council Works 4 How the Council works | Chapter 1 1.1 This is the third published annual report of the Family Justice Council and covers the work of the Council over 2007-08. Details of the Council’s activities and the key issues it has tackled are set out in chapter 2. The Council is a non- statutory advisory Non Departmental Public Body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). It was established on 1 July 2004 as an outcome of the then Lord Chancellor’s Department’s 2002 consultation paper on ‘Promoting Inter-Agency Working in the Family Justice System’. Those responding to this consultation felt that there was a clear need for a representative body that brought together all the key groups working in the family justice system. The Primary Role of the Family Justice Council 1.2 The Council’s primary role is to promote an inter-disciplinary approach to family justice, and through consultation and research, to monitor how effectively the system, both as a whole and through its component parts, delivers the service the public, and the Government, need and to advise on reforms necessary for continuous improvement. The Council also aims to improve co-operation between the various professions that work in the family justice system (judges, lawyers, health professionals, social workers, guardians, mediators and others) and to promote a greater understanding between the professionals and the users of the family courts - parents and children. The formal terms of reference set by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor are attached at Annex A to this Report. Composition of the Council 1.3 The Family Justice Council consists of a representative cross section of those who work in, use, or have an interest in, the family justice system. A full list of the members is attached at Annex B. The Council is chaired by the President of the Family Division, Sir Mark Potter. Its deputy chair is Lord Justice Thorpe, the Deputy Head of Family Justice. Its members include: • a Family Division High Court Judge • a Circuit Judge • a District Judge (County courts) • a District Judge (Magistrates’ courts) • a lay magistrate 5 Chapter 1 | How the Council works • a Justices’ Clerk • two family barristers • two family solicitors • a family mediator • a paediatrician • a child mental health specialist • a director of local authority children’s services • an academic • a person appointed for their knowledge of family justice from a parent’s point of view. In addition the Council has ex officio representatives (who attend meetings where there is business which concerns them) from the following organisations: • Cafcass • CAFCASS CYMRU • the Children’s Commissioners for England and Wales • the Ministry of Justice • the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) • the Department of Health (DH) • the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) • the Home Office (HO) • the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) • the Legal Services Commission (LSC) • Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) • the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). 6 How the Council works | Chapter 1 Structure of the Family Justice Council and its Committees 1.4 The Family Justice Council has 31 members (including the ex officio representatives). 1.5 There is an Executive Committee of ten members, which makes the management and planning decisions. Its members are the Deputy Chair of the Council, the Chairs of the committees dealing with Children in Safeguarding Proceedings, Children in Families, Money and Property, Diversity, Education and Training and the Voice of the Child, a nominee from the Experts’ Committee and a representative from the MoJ. 1.6 The Council’s more detailed work is carried out by a number of subject based committees. There are three main committees dealing with Children in Safeguarding Proceedings (Children Act 1989 and Adoption and Children Act 2002); Children in Families (Children Act 1989 and Family Law Act 1996); and Money and Property (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973). In addition, there are cross cutting committees on Experts, Education and Training, Diversity and the Voice of the Child. There are currently two working groups on Domestic Violence and Transparency. The committees and working groups include co-opted members, who are not members of the full Council, as well as relevant Council members. 1.7 Chapters 3 to 11 following contain reports on the work of all of the Council’s committees and the Domestic Violence working group. The work of the Transparency working group will be covered in chapter 2. 1.8 There is also an ad hoc Dartington Conference Planning Committee, which meets to arrange the biennial inter-disciplinary residential conferences at Dartington Hall, Totnes in Devon. This Committee met several times during 2007-08 and the conference took place in September 2007 on the theme of diversity. A report on the conference is contained in chapter 7. Meetings of the Council 1.9 The full Council meets quarterly. Three of these meetings are in London and one is held outside London and linked to a residential conference for representatives of the Local Family Justice Councils (Local FJCs). The meeting held in January 2008 was the first open meeting held by the Family Justice Council where twelve members of the public had the opportunity to observe the work of the Council at first hand.