Routine attendance at family court hearings could be on the way for the press – but a new criminal offence for breaches of reporting restrictions will apply.

Proposals have been put out for consultation by the Government’s Department of Constitutional Affairs in an effort to open up the courts.

Most family court proceedings are currently held in private, with decisions taken in court not made public.

The new proposals would allow the media to attend proceedings as a right, for the benefit of the public, though the court could still exclude reporters where appropriate and also place reporting restrictions on individual hearings.

Severe penalties for breaking anonymity rules would be brought in alongside the new right to attend court.

The consultation document states: “Press attendance would allow closer public scrutiny of the operation of the family courts and it would also allow the falsely accused to have a public witness.

“Press attendance would also allow scrutiny of and improve public knowledge about how decisions are reached by judges in family cases. This could help remove the perception of secret courts.

“If we are to open the courts to the press and media, we need to ensure that there are adequate sanctions where the law on anonymity is broken. We cannot have a system that results in more confidence to the public at the expense of those involved in proceedings.

“We propose to introduce primary legislation to create a criminal offence prohibiting publication of information intended, or likely, to identify a child or an adult party as being involved in family proceedings.

“Alongside this would remain the powers the courts already have to deal with contempt where any additional reporting restrictions have been imposed by the court.

“Information, once out in the public domain, cannot be reclaimed. Damage done to a child or vulnerable adult identified through the press cannot be undone by apology. There needs to be clear understanding and agreement about what information it is acceptable to publish, and what is not, with tough penalties for any breach.”

In the family courts, the current arrangements for public and media attendance and for reporting proceedings are complicated and inconsistent between levels of court.

Court of Appeal and House of Lords: Open to press and public.

The Court of Appeal and House of Lords have different arrangements again from the first three tiers of court.

Hearings in the Court of Appeal are almost invariably open to the press and public to attend. In sensitive cases involving children in the Court of Appeal and the High Court, it is common practice for an approved transcript, exluding the names of parties involved, to be prepared for publication in the law reports.

Launching the consultation, minister of state Harriet Harman said: “Many more people are affected by decisions of the family courts than used to be the case – over 400,000 family court applications every year.

“Change in family structures, change in social attitudes, greater cultural diversity, new reproductive technologies and global mobility bring new challenges to the family courts. But what has not changed is the need for the courts to protect children from cruelty and neglect and to make judgments when parents can’t agree about the care of the child.

“In order to ensure that the public can have confidence in the work of the family courts, we make proposals in the consultation document to make the family courts more open and accountable while ensuring that we protect the privacy of the personal lives of those involved in family proceedings, particularly children.

“We make firm proposals to allow the press into the courts and how we plan to protect anonymity.”

Parliament has recently shown an interest in improving openness; and, the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee report about family courts in February 2005 recommended that: