To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the role is of the central authority in (a) child abduction cases and (b) cases where the parents live in different countries and the child custody arrangements have been breached; and if she will make a statement. (100914)

The central authorities transmit documentation and co-operate with other central authorities around the world as well as acting as a contact point for parents, as set out in by the main provisions of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and EU Council Regulation 2201/2003, known as Brussels II(a).