Tag: Jake Berry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications by grandparents for rights of access to their grandchildren there were in each year since 2010.

Caroline Dinenage

Under the Children Act 1989 the court may make a child arrangements order to determine with whom a child is to live or spend time. Prior to 22nd April 2014 such orders were called contact and residence orders. The Department collates figures on the numbers of applications made by grandparents for child arrangements orders and the figures for such applications since 2010 are shown below.

Number of child arrangement (contact) order applications made by grandparents in England and Wales

Unlike parents, grandparents and other family members can only make an application for a child arrangements orders with the permission of the court. The requirement to apply for the court’s permission is not designed to be an obstacle to grandparents, or other close relatives, but to act as a filter to sift out those applications that are clearly not in the child’s best interests. Experience suggests that grandparents (or other interested relatives) would not usually experience difficulty in obtaining permission where their application is motivated by a genuine concern for the child.

The Department does not collate figures on applications for a child arrangements order where the court’s permission has been sought. This information could only be obtained by manually checking each case file at disproportionate cost. Similarly, the Department does not collate figures centrally on family members named in a child arrangements order. Details of the numbers of child arrangements orders issued specifically for grandparents to see their grandchildren could only be obtained by checking each file at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for Contact Orders submitted by people to see their grandchildren were granted in each of the last three years.

Caroline Dinenage

Under the Children Act 1989 the court may make a child arrangements order to determine with whom a child is to live or spend time. Prior to 22nd April 2014 such orders were called contact and residence orders. The Department collates figures on the numbers of applications made by grandparents for child arrangements orders and the figures for such applications since 2010 are shown below.

Number of child arrangement (contact) order applications made by grandparents in England and Wales

Unlike parents, grandparents and other family members can only make an application for a child arrangements orders with the permission of the court. The requirement to apply for the court’s permission is not designed to be an obstacle to grandparents, or other close relatives, but to act as a filter to sift out those applications that are clearly not in the child’s best interests. Experience suggests that grandparents (or other interested relatives) would not usually experience difficulty in obtaining permission where their application is motivated by a genuine concern for the child.

The Department does not collate figures on applications for a child arrangements order where the court’s permission has been sought. This information could only be obtained by manually checking each case file at disproportionate cost. Similarly, the Department does not collate figures centrally on family members named in a child arrangements order. Details of the numbers of child arrangements orders issued specifically for grandparents to see their grandchildren could only be obtained by checking each file at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications by grandparents for permission to apply for a child arrangement order were active in the final quarter of 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many family-friendly tenancies have been taken up in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

Brandon Lewis

The Government does not hold this data.

We are progressing longer tenancies by promoting a model tenancy with bodies representing landlords, tenants, letting agents, mortgage lenders, and local authorities. Recent figures in the English Housing Survey, Households 2013-14 show that tenancy lengths in the private rented sector have increased to an average of 3.5 years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications to buy privately-owned land for residential development were made in each year since 2009.

Brandon Lewis

The information requested is not collected by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many applications to buy publicly owned land for residential development were made in each year since 2009.

Brandon Lewis

The Department does not hold information on the number of applications to buy publicly owned land, nor is there a single place where developers ‘apply’ to purchase land.

As part of the Public Sector Land programme up to March 2015, 942 sites owned by central Government and its agencies were sold with capacity for 109,000 homes.

The Government property finder tool on GOV.UK lists government property for sale and rent as well as information on the Government estate.

The Government is committed to releasing more of its land for housing, with an ambition to release surplus land for at least 160,000 homes by 2020. We have also introduced the Right to Contest which allows the public to identify sites which are surplus and could be put to better economic use, including housing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jake Berry on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20478, how many applications by grandparents for rights of access to their grandchildren were made in the final quarter of 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

The number of applications by grandparents for rights of access to their grandchildren made in the final quarter of 2015 will be available in due course.