Dear Mr McCloy

SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Request

Thank you for mail of 4 March in which you request the following information from the Children Order 1995 for the past 5 years:

     1) total amount of contact orders for each year

2) of how many were first time applicants

     3) of how many have applied to the courts on more than one occasion

4) of how many were applied for by;

a - biological father

b - biological mother

c - other

Your request has been handled under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI).

It is only possible to provide data relating to point 1 and this information is documented in the attached table. Data relating to points 2 to 4 c are not held on our statistical databases.

I hope this information is helpful, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me using the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Chris Heatley

Head of Customer Services Group

Number of final contact orders for which contact was granted 2004 to 2008

¹ Data for 2009 are provisional

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may ask the Court Service to conduct an internal review in relation to your request. A request for an internal review should be addressed to: Patricia Quinn, Information Access Team, Information Centre, Laganside House, 23 -25 Oxford Street, Belfast, BT1 3LA.  If following the internal review you remain dissatisfied with the Court Service's treatment of your request then you are entitled to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner's address is Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.