On behalf of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Wolfson QC (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice) has confirmed his approval of one new pilot Practice Direction supplementing the Family Procedure Rules (FPR) 2010, made by the President of the Family Division under powers delegated to him by the Lord Chief Justice.
Full details of the new pilot Practice Direction may be found in the Practice Direction Update document, with a summary provided below:
New pilot Practice Direction 36W (Pilot Scheme: Procedure for notification of certain protection orders to the police by email):
- This new Pilot Practice Direction 36W replaces previous Practice Direction 36H to bring in new provision for communicating Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders (FMPOs and FGMPOs) to the police. The new pilot Practice Direction requires the court to send notification of the existence of a FMPO or FGMPO, once made and sealed by the court, to a centralised police email address, using a new template which sets out key details.
- The pilot Practice Direction also requires applicants, or the court where the court is to effect service of a FMPO or FGMPO, to email the mailbox once the order has been served on the respondent, or the respondent has otherwise been made aware of the terms of the order.
- The address to which emails must be sent is set out in the pilot Practice Direction.
- When an email is received at the centralised email address, an automated system will forward the FGMPO or FMPO (or the notification of service/ the respondent having been made aware of the terms of the order) to the local and regional police lead for the address of the person to be protected by the FGMPO or FMPO. If the court has directed that the local and regional police lead for the address of the respondent to the FGMPO or FMPO also be notified, then the automated system will do so.
- This process only applies where the address of the applicant (or the respondent, where applicable) is in England and Wales. Further guidance is available and applicants can obtain the template for notification of service of an order from court staff.
- This pilot Practice Direction will come into effect on 26th April 2021, for one year.