EXPERT WITNESSES IN FAMILY COURT PROCEEDINGS

Early day motion 2857, tabled 13 March 2012 by John Hemming (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 20 members.

That this House notes the report by Professor Jane Ireland, commissioned by the Family Justice Council, in which she studied 100 expert reports from family court proceedings; further notes that 20 per cent. were written by people not qualified, a further 20 per cent. by people writing outside their knowledge and qualifications, 65 per cent. were `poor' or `very poor' and 90 per cent. were written by people who were not in current practice; recognises that this raises a massive question as to whether or not the judgments of the courts in the majority of care proceedings are reliable; and calls for a substantial further opening of the courts to enable the quality of evidence given to be subject to adequate real time scrutiny.

Signatures by party: Labour 9, Liberal Democrat 9, Conservative 2.