§ Mr. Hoosonasked the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will take steps to ensure that children of Welsh parents born in maternity wards in hospitals situated in such border towns as Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford can be registered in Welsh or by means of bilingual forms, in view of the fact that the specialist services obtainable in these towns are used by Welsh-speaking parents from bordering Welsh areas.
§ Mr. John MorrisThe regulations which prescribe the form of the register and the manner of registration of births occurring in England are approved by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services. It would not be practicable to prescribe a bilingual form of register for recording births in certain English subdistricts only, and in any case few registrars in England write or understand Welsh.