Outcome on Access Enforcement Applications Filed in Family Justice Courts over Past Three Years

Ms Hany Soh asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for each year over the past three years, what is the number of access enforcement applications filed in the Family Justice Courts; and (b) of these, how many are (i) male applicants (ii) female applicants and (iii) cases that have reached an amicable resolution at the mediation stage.

The data on the number of applications for child access enforcement is not available. However, the number of applications for committal could be used as a proxy as a significant proportion are likely to comprise child access enforcement.

A committal application is taken out by a party, with the Court’s permission, to seek the court's finding that the breaching party has been in contempt of court for non-compliance with the court order or judgment and should be penalised. From 2018 to 2020, out of a total of about 14,000 summonses received by the Family Justice Courts for the various types of civil applications, the number of applications specifically filed for committal was 297 (see Table 1 below).

The breakdown of the applications by (i) male applicants (ii) female applicants and (iii) cases that have reached an amicable resolution at the mediation stage is not available.