(2) how many and what percentage of joint residency orders were given in each region in England and Wales in each year since 1997.
The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information is available on the overall number of residence orders made under section 8 of the Children Act 1989, but the courts in England and Wales do not collect information about who the order is made in favour of from each case record.
The number of residence orders made in all types of court in England and Wales for the years 1997 to 2005 is as follows.
Residence orders 1997 26,883 1998 30,398 1999 21,286 2000 25,809 2001 29,546 2002 30,006 2003 31,996 2004 31,878 2005 26,523
The numbers of residence orders made broken down by region are only available for the years 2003 to 2005. They are as follows:
Area 2003 2004 2005 Principal Registry of the Family Division 1,460 1,335 970 London 1,897 2,889 2,008 Midlands 5,882 5,262 4,380 North East 5,434 5,739 4,662 North West 4,405 4,595 3,717 South East 6,519 5,775 5,409 South West 3,962 3,943 3,427 Wales and Chester 2,436 2,339 1,951