§ 17. Mr. Keelingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the parents convicted in any recent period of cruelty to their children have been fathers and mothers, respectively.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI regret that I am unable to give the information asked for by my hon. Friend, since the available statistics do not distinguish parents from other persons convicted of ill-treating or neglecting children. I can say, however, that of 1,611 persons found guilty of such offences by magistrates courts in 1943, 509 were men and 1,102 were women, and my information is that in the great majority of such cases the defendants are parents. Many of these cases are cases of neglect, not of actual cruelty or ill-treatment.