HC Deb 20 February 1907 vol 169 c820
MR. JACKSON (Greenwich)

To ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether, in view of a defect in the existing Poor Law by which the liability of a step-father to maintain his step-children ceases on the death of their mother, although such step-children may be under the age of sixteen years, he proposes to take such steps as may be necessary to amend the Law so that the step-father's liability may be assimilated to that relating to his own children

(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I am aware of the point referred to and will bring it under the notice of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress, who will no doubt have before them the general question of the liability of persons to contribute to the maintenance of their relatives. I do not propose to deal with the matter by legislation at the present time.