HC Deb 21 February 1952 vol 496 cc67-8W
141. Mr. Parker

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will set up a committee of inquiry into the law relating to the illegitimate child.

Sir D. Maxwell Fyfe

The problem of the illegitimate child is linked with other questions of family life which fall within the terms of reference of the recently appointed Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce, and I think it would be wiser to await the Commission's report.

Notice has been given by my hon. Friend the Member for Dorset, North (Mr. Crouch), of the introduction of a Bill to do in respect of the maintenance of an illegitimate child what was done in respect of the maintenance of a legitimate child by the Married Women (Maintenance) Act, 1949, and the Guardianship and Maintenance Act, 1951. This was recently recommended by a committee set up by the British Medical Association and the Magistrates Association.