One copy of this paper can be made for the purpose of personal, non-commercial use, subject to proper attribution to the author. The Joint Select Committee released its report The Family Law Act 1975 - Aspects of its Operation and Interpretation at the end of 1992. The Government does not accept this recommendation because the purpose of practice directions is to deal with matters of practice and procedure.
Practice directions are a matter for the judiciary.
Nonetheless the Government and the Court recognised the need for a consistent approach to these matters and proposed that the aims of the recommendation be achieved by other means, including their consideration at the Judges' Conferences and Judicial Development Seminars. Discussions then followed with the Family Court about the data collection procedure and the design of a pro forma questionnaire. All issues relating to the study were settled by the end of 1995. Data collection began from the beginning of 1996 and continued to the end of 1997. Council also began a study of the problems being experienced by parents in relation to child contact.