To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will bring forward amendments to the Children and Families Bill to provide for a non-resident parent to have more than every other weekend as the standard contact arrangement with their children; and if he will make a statement.

The Government recognise that, in most cases, a child benefits from the involvement of both parents. The Children and Families Bill reflects this. However, in making decisions about the care of a child, the welfare of the child concerned must always be the courts' paramount consideration. Any steps to pre-determine a specific level of contact between a child and a parent would undermine this principle. For that reason, the Government do not intend to amend the Bill to provide for this.