26th February 2010 Press Release
Quarterly Children Order Statistics

Figures published today by the Northern Ireland Court Service in the quarterly Children Order bulletin outline the business received and dealt with through the courts for the quarter October – December 2009.

Business covered by the Children Order Bulletin comes under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and relates to issues such as contact, residence and care and supervision in relation to children.

During the quarter:

• 1,320 children were involved in Children Order Proceedings
• 1,026 applications were dealt with during the period,
• 2,248 children orders were made

END

Notes for Editors

1. Figures contained in the Children Order Bulletin are available on the Court Service Website at www.courtsni.gov.uk
2. The statistics are run from an administrative database and may change due to late returns and further validations.

• Children Order Summary statistics Oct – Dec 2009
• There were 1,075 applications (Fig 1) entered during the period, of which:
  85 = Public and 990 = Private
• There were 1,026 applications dealt with during the period, of which:
  137 = Public and 889 = Private
• There were 156 cases transferred during the period with 161 reasons for transfer (Fig 2).
• Of the own motion orders made, 43% were in relation to Contact issues.
• The majority of interim orders made were in relation to Contact (2,120) and Care (1,536) issues.
• Court time spent on Children Order business between October and December 2009:
  Total time = 1220 hours 31 minutes
  Average sitting time = 2 hours 37 minutes
• There were 2,248 orders made from October and December 2009.
• The average waiting time in weeks from lodgement to disposal for public law cases was 48 weeks.
• The average waiting time in weeks between lodgement to disposal for private law cases was 26 weeks.
• There were 1,320 children involved in Children Order Proceedings during the period, of which 36% were under the age of five.

Figure 1: Number of Applications received by court tier

Figure 2: Reasons for Transfer

If you have any further queries in this or other court related matters please contact:

Communications Group
Northern Ireland Court Service
Laganside House
23-27 Oxford Street
Belfast
BT1 3LA

Tel. 028 9041 2387