The government looks set to water down proposals to open up family courts to media scrutiny after the controversial plans provoked a hostile reaction.


Respondents to a Department for Constitutional Affairs consultation paper broadly supported the proposal for greater openness in the system. The media and some senior family judges were also in favour of allowing media access to the family courts as of right.



However, the majority of lawyers and judges - as well as many children's groups and childcare experts - opposed this aspect of the plan, expressing concern about the practicalities and the need to protect children and vulnerable adults adequately and ensure that their anonymity was safeguarded. There was broad agreement that if the media were allowed in principle to attend family courts, there should be judicial discretion to exclude them.



More than 200 children also gave their views as part of the consultation, with the majority rejecting the idea of allowing the media into the courts on the ground that they did not want people in the court hearing private details of their lives.



The Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, said the government's job was now to strike the right balance between the need for open justice and ensuring the confidentiality of parties.



'We need to ensure that people know more about what goes on in the courtroom: for example, the reasons conclusions are reached. We also need to be clear that families and children know what they rightly regard as private information, rightly remains private.



'That may well involve allowing the press or the public in only where the judge expressly agrees as an exception.'



Catherine Baksi