Compulsion required for mediation to work, concludes Constitutional
Affairs Committee
Family Law Week
- 12th June 2006
http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/library.asp?i=2124
The Constitutional
Affairs select committee has published a short report on the progress
of initiatives in the family courts. It follows a day of oral evidence
on 2 May given by the President, Sir Mark Potter, with the help of Mr
Justice Munby, District Judge Nicholas Crichton and Audrey Damazer from
the Justices' Clerks Society.
The report
tackles several issues including court transparency and funding but
reserves some of the heaviest criticism for the Family Court Resolution
pilot project branding it a 'failure' and urging some form of compulsion
for both private and publicly funded couples.
The committee
was pleased 'that there appears to be some movement on the issue of
transparency' but also warned that funding difficulties were causing
delay and hoped 'that the Department will facilitate the "cascading
down" of cases to the Family Proceedings Courts, as suggested by the
judiciary. To do this, it needs to provide sufficient legal advisers,
ensure that any vacancies continue to be filled and remedy the lack
of additional District Judges (Magistrates Court) working full time
on family cases.'
The full
text of the report can be found on the Parliament website
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmconst/1086/108602.htm
