Pursuant to a reply to a written question, 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 505W, the then Minister of State for Justice provided the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Ruffley) with incorrect statistics on children who were the subject of new care proceedings in the family courts.
I apologise for this error. Corrected figures are given in the following table:
Year Area 2003 2004 2005 2006 Cambridgeshire 129 167 144 192 Essex 365 369 359 329 Norfolk 169 200 243 256 Suffolk 128 151 177 240
It has not been possible to obtain corresponding corrected figures for Bedfordshire or Hertfordshire.
These statistics relate to the location of the court where the case was heard, and not necessarily to the location of the care provider seeking the order, or the residence of the child on whose behalf the order is being sought. The figures cover both the family proceedings courts and the county courts, and exclude cases which are reported as having been transferred between courts.
I have written to the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds and copies of this letter have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.