Family Division Courts
Dear Ministry of Justice,
I am requesting from the Ministry of Justice, under a Freedom of Information request, that a current and consise list be made available of All Courts in England and Wales that have had dealings with Family Division cases over the last 10 years. This information is to include all Courts that dealt with matter's of Adoption, long term fostering and special guardianship, and to also include any Courts which have dealt with associated appeal of the aforementioned.
I would be grateful if this information could be supplied in a recognised format, such as .pdf or .doc
Yours faithfully,
Mr Sam Hallimond
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Freedom of Information Request FOI/65330/10
Data Access & Compliance Unit
Information Directorate
Zone 6 B
Post point 6.25
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
T 020 3334 3238
F 020 3334 2245
E [email address]
25-MAY-10 Our Ref:FOI/65330/10
Dear Sam Hallimond,
SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Request
Thank you for your correspondence of May 24, 2010, in which you asked
for information regarding the Family Division cases over the last 10
years under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) from the
Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
You will receive a response from us by June 22, 2010. Your request has
been passed to the appropriate business unit within the MoJ, and they
will write to you with their decision by this date.
The FOIA does provide a number of exemptions. A qualified exemption
requires that before relying on it we must consider the public interest
test. If the information you have requested is covered by a qualified
exemption(s) under FOIA, the Department is allowed to take longer than
20 working days to respond. This is because in such circumstances we are
required to consider the public interest issues when deciding whether or
not to disclose the information requested.
If more time is needed to consider the public interest issues under a
qualified exemption(s), we will write to you and inform you of the
revised date you can expect to receive a response to your request.
If you have any queries regarding this request please do not hesitate to
contact us. Please quote ref: FOI/65330/10 in all future correspondence.
Yours sincerely,
Darren Over
(Sent on behalf of David Keysell)
Data Access and Compliance Unit
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Dear Over, Darren (ARU),
Many thanks for your assistance in this matter, I await your approval of this request and subsequently the arrival of the requested material.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Sam Hallimond
<<Hallimond 65330 Final Response Re s12 F 080610 (2).doc>>
Dear Mr Hallimond,
I refer to your request under the Freedom of Information Act dated 24^th
May 2010 in which you requested for information relating to Family
Division Cases. Please find attached the reply which I hope deals with
your request.
I am happy to assist if you have any queries in light of my reply.
Yours Sincerely,
Adefoyeke Adedeji
Operations Manager - Civil Operations Team - Operations Division
Operations & Performance Directorate
Supporting our people, Courts & Processes
HM Courts Service (an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice)
Post Point 1.19, 1st Floor
102 Petty France
London, SW1H 9AJ,
DX: 152380 Westminster 8
Tel:0203 334 4323
Email:[email address]
This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.
Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.
This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
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Dear Adedeji, Adefoyeke,
A plain text list of Family Proceedings Courts currently operating in the United Kingdom as part of Magistrates, County and Crown Courts services would suffice.
And I am making an offer to pay the requested fee of £600 pounds, in a monthly payment of 1p per calendar month.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Sam Hallimond
Mr Sam Hallimond left an annotation ()
Could you please advise me of the additional monthly cost (in pence) for the additional information to be included, as below;
Courts with dealings in the Family Division in both Scotland and Northern Ireland
Dear Mr Hallimond,
Thank you for your email dated 8th June 2010 in which you made a further request for a list of Family Proceedings Courts currently operating in the United Kingdom.
In my letter to you dated 8th June 2010 I mentioned that Her Majesty Courts Service (HMCS) holds information on the current list of all courts in England and Wales that deal with Family Division cases and that this information is already in the public domain.
You can find the information at the HMCS website free of charge at the following internet addresses:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSC...
The information you are seeking is already available in the public domain, it is therefore exempt from disclosure under Section 21 (Information accessible to the applicant by other means) of the Freedom of Information Act.
For information on the Family Division Courts in Scotland, you might find it useful to contact the Scottish Courts Service at the following internet addresses:
I hope you will find this information helpful.
Yours Sincerely,
Adefoyeke Adedeji
Operations Manager - Civil Operations Team - Operations Division
Operations & Performance Directorate
Supporting our people, Courts & Processes
HM Courts Service (an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice)
Post Point 1.19, 1st Floor
102 Petty France
London, SW1H 9AJ,
DX: 152380 Westminster 8
Tel:0203 334 4323
Email:[email address]
Dear Adedeji, Adefoyeke,
I have followed the links that you have provided, but I have found flaws in the suitability of your answer. These I have listed below for you to address;
1. This is not a concise list of "All Family Division Courts". This I have requested, and has not been offered.
2. If this is the "List" of "All" the requested Courts, why are there Family Proceedings taking place in other Courts that are not listed.
3. When I offered to pay the requested fee (in instalments) nothing has been addressed with regards to moving this forward.
I would once again request that a comprehensive list of ALL Family Division Courts are supplied (at cost if need be, but unsure if this is reasonable as the MOJ is funded through "tax payers" monies already...and I am a tax payer!) without further delay!
I believe that the objectiveness of my request has been clearly outlined, and fail to see what difficulty there is with the MOJ complying with it. It seems very strange to me that the "controlling body" of the Courts, does not have a current list available of ALL the Courts undertaking Family Division cases in the United Kingdom!
Your further assistance is greatly appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Sam Hallimond
<<Mr Hallimonds - 210610.doc>>
Mr Hallimond,
Thank you for your email dated 10^th June 2010 in which you made a request
for further information relating to Family Division Courts.
Please find attached the response to your request.
I hope I have been of assistance to you.
Yours sincerely,
Adefoyeke Adedeji
Operations Manager - Civil Operations Team - Operations Division
Operations & Performance Directorate
Supporting our people, Courts & Processes
HM Courts Service (an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice)
Post Point 1.19, 1st Floor
102 Petty France
London, SW1H 9AJ,
DX: 152380 Westminster 8
Tel:0203 334 4323
Email:[email address]
This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.
Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.
This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
Dear Adedeji, Adefoyeke,
I am very grateful for your supply of information, but a little dissatisfied with some answers or responses. These I will address below;
1. I had made it clear in earlier communication that many Courts that undertake Family Court work, are not listed as doing so, so cannot be identified and thus contacted. Maybe this is something that the HMCS can address and simplify?
2. In a previous request I asked for a list of the Courts that undertook Family Division work (in list format), but was advised that this would be at a cost of £600+. But in contradiction it is now being stated that the HMCS do not charge for free public information! Can I have a clearer position from the HMCS as an offer to pay for the "requested" information has already been offered, but with no further progress in the information being supplied?
Yours sincerely,
Mr Sam Hallimond
Mr Sam Hallimond left an annotation ()
I am more than a little concerned that a list of all Courts in the United Kingdom and undertaking Family/Child cases, is NOT available as "Public Available Records".
Paul Randle-Jolliffe left an annotation ()
It just shows how secretive the family courts are about even where they are!
Paul Randle-Jolliffe left an annotation ()
I have to ask, if they do not have a list, how do they communicate with them?
Maybe they dont?
It would explain a lot.
James Moore left an annotation ()
It would be nice if the search engine on that website actually worked. Use any search filter for "Family Proceedings" and it returns less than a dozen hits. I know of four in a thirty mile radius of my location that should be on the returned list! The only conclusion I can come to is that the search engine is broken or the database is faulty.
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James Moore left an annotation ()
I would also like to offer a portion of the fees, at £0.01pcm.