7,500 children involved in Public Law applications each quarter.
The average time for the disposal of a care or supervision application in the third quarter of 2012 was 47.7 weeks, continuing the drop from 51.6 weeks in the previous quarter. Court statistics now released for July to September 2012 show a steady decline in the disposal rates for such applications from 55.5 weeks for the first three months of 2011.
The draft Children and Families Bill envisages a maximum 26 week time limit for the completion of care and supervision proceedings, with the possibility of extending the time limit in a particular case for up to eight weeks at a time should that be necessary to resolve proceedings justly.
The statistics also show that the number of children involved in public law applications made by local authorities jumped in 2009 from around 5,000 per quarter to 6,500 per quarter following the publicity surrounding the Baby P case. Since then, this number has increased even further to nearly 7,500 per quarter.
The latest statistics, including those for family matters, can be accessed from this webpage.
SOURCE: justice.gov.uk
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