Valerie raises family mediations at Justice questions

On Tuesday 18th March 2014, Valerie asked the Minister of State for Justice, Simon Hughes, to clarify a response previously given to Valerie regarding family mediations at Justice questions in the House of Commons.

Valerie said:

“May I ask the Secretary of State to correct the record? In the House, he said that family mediations had not fallen, but a letter from the Minister of State for Justice says that publicly funded referrals and family mediations have fallen.”

The Minister of State replied:

“The position is clear and I tried to clarify it in my letter to the hon. Lady. Sadly, there has been a drop in the number of cases that are going to mediation. There has therefore been a drop in the number of cases that are going through the process. The percentage of successful mediations has not dropped. That is the issue to which the Secretary of State was referring. The Government are committed to doing what she would want, which is to ensure that from next month, when the law changes, there is an increase in referrals to mediation and an increase in successful mediations.”