Your story last week on the Council of Europe’s biannual European Judicial Systems CEPEJ Evaluation Report revealed some interesting statistics and commentary on how Scotland compares with European neighbours on a range of measures.

The report picked up an issue that has been both mystifying and frustrating to us at Shared Parenting Scotland: the conduct and progress of family law cases when parents go to court to resolve disagreements about parenting their children after separation or divorce.

The report notes that Scotland provided “very little case flow data” which offers a measure of courts’ efficiency – how long does it take a case to get into court and then out again. “Indeed, the case management system is not structured in a way that allows these figures to be retrieved”.

That particular table has no usable data all the way back to 2012.

This is an important matter. We have been concerned equally about the data desert for the content of cases – how many party litigants, the number of child welfare hearings, the path towards settlement or final order. These would provide basic insights into the effectiveness of our system for the benefit of lawyers, for sheriffs, for parents and, above all for the children involved whose relationships can be left in a limbo of uncertainty for months or much longer.

Ian Maxwell, national manager, Shared Parenting Scotland