‘Reform of the Family Court’ – evidence session for the House of Commons Justice Committee

by reporting watch team | Nov 17, 2025 | Events, FCReportingWatch, Open Reporting

The House of Commons Parliamentary Justice Committee held a session on 28 October to look at ‘Reform of the Family Court’. We’re not sure what was meant by ‘reform’ – this was never specified – but the session had four important witnesses giving evidence: Lisa...

What’s the future for open justice and ‘justice system data’ policy?

by Judith Townend | Feb 24, 2023 | Comment, Events, Transparency News

“Our justice system is years behind other public services like health and education in collecting and using data to understand performance and impact” says Natalie Byrom, director of research at the Legal Education Foundation (TLEF). “We need a fundamental shift in...

LEGAL BLOGGING IN THE FAMILY COURT – A NEW PHASE

by reporting watch team | Jan 1, 2023 | Events, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

At the end of January 2023, a new reporting pilot [update, the linked guidance from November has now been superceded by a version dated 18 January here – readers should check the TIG page regularly for the most up to date version as this document may change as...

Hague Mothers

by Julie Doughty | Oct 26, 2022 | Events, Resources

‘A good law gone bad’ is how the Hague Convention on International Abduction was described in a session organised by the Filia Hague Mothers project at an international feminist conference held in Cardiff over the weekend. The Convention was drafted in...

A Crisis in allocating social work ‘Guardians’ to vulnerable children? And other news from the last Cafcass Open Board meeting 

by Alice T | Mar 5, 2022 | Events, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Cafcass have led for some time in opening certain board meetings to stakeholders and pre registered members of the public, and consistently lodging minutes on their website albeit a few months later. They now lodge not just the agenda but also the CEO report to every...

The Harm Report – one year on

by reporting watch team | Jul 3, 2021 | Consultations, Events, FCReportingWatch

June 2021 sees the first anniversary of publication of the report ‘Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases’ (the Harm report). We have published a number of posts about the report. The UK government responded to the...