Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Phoday Jarjussey.  Councillor Beulah East was present as his substitute. 

Councillor Tony Burles declared a non pecuniary interest in Agenda Item 4: Children and Families Act 2014 - Family Law Reforms, as he was employed by an organisation that had a contract with the Legal Services Commission to deliver Family Mediation, and stayed in the room during the consideration thereof.

RESOLVED:  That all items of business be considered in public.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and particularly thanked Her Honour Judge Judith Rowe QC for attending the meeting.  He noted that Judge Rowe had been called to the bar in 1979, became Assistant Recorder in 1999, took silk and became Recorder in 2003 and was appointed to the bench as a Circuit Judge in 2012.  She was currently the Designated Family Judge for West London based at the West London Family Court in Hatton Cross. 

Judge Rowe gave an overview as to how West London Family Court worked in practice.  She advised that the she had been at the bar or on the bench for more than 30 years and could not adequately stress the importance of safeguarding vulnerable children.  Historically, cases had gone from one hearing to the next without any target end date in both private and public law, with insufficient onus to resolve issues outside of the courts.  The reforms introduced through the Children and Families Act 2014 looked to address the length of cases with removal of the child being the last option.

Since its inception in April 2014, the West London Family Court had focussed initially on implementing the new regime in public law as introduced by the Act and had, more recently, turned that focus to private law cases.  With regard to public law, a new structure had been adopted in relation to the allocation of cases.  Although cases had previously been issued in Magistrates Courts and transferred up as appropriate, this process had been streamlined under the new single Family Court.  The 11 London boroughs covered by West London Family Court now submitted all applications electronically to a central location (a single secure email address).  Applications were then assessed jointly, by a legal advisor and a District Judge, the following day and allocated to the right level of judge for its duration. 

Members were advised that, ideally, cases would be considered in no more than three hearings: a Case Management Hearing (CMH) would usually take place within 12-18 working days; an Issues Resolution Hearing (IRH) should be completed by week 20 (in West London, the aim was to complete this by week 18); and a Final Hearing would be held by week 26.  Courts were able to allow extensions to these timescales as it was acknowledged that there were times when it was not possible to complete an application within the 26 week deadline.  For example, a complex Fact Finding Hearing (FFH) may need to take place or assessments may need to be undertaken abroad.

Since the implementation of the new system on 22 April 2014, Judge Rowe noted that there had been a steady and significant improvement in the processing of cases.  Since its inception, there had been a one week reduction in the average duration of cases each month, resulting in a current average of 30 weeks.  This progress had been welcomed by the Family Justice Board but it was clear that further improvements could be made in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.