§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will give, for each of the last 20 years, the numbers of (a) divorces, (b) legal separations in magistrates' courts, (c) legal separations in the High Court, (d) marriages, and (e) married couples; and whether he can give any indication of the number of those married couples who were in fact living apart.
§ Sir George YoungThe available figures in respect of England and Wales relating to parts (a), (c) and (d) of the question are as follows:
625WIn answer to part (b) of the question, I understand from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department that detailed statistics relating to the Matrimonial Proceedings (Magistrates' Courts) Act 1960 are not maintained centrally and the cost of obtaining them would be disproportionately high.
In answer to part (e) of the question, annual estimates are not available of numbers of married couples. The available estimates relate to numbers of married men and women, and include persons whose spouses were residing for a year or more outside England and Wales.
ESTIMATED NUMBERS OF MARRIED PERSONS thousands Males Females Mid-year: 1959 11,678 11,738 1960 11,762 11,811 1961 11,848 11,870 1962 11,966 11,948 1963 12,007 11,987 1964 12,087 12,048 1965 12,163 12,117 1966 12,204 12,192 1967 12,263 12,272 1968 12,320 12,325 1969 12,377 12,383 1970 12,422 12,433 1971 12,501 12,508 1972 12,535 12,537 1973 12,567 12,558 1974 12,562 12,544 1975 12,532 12,517 1976 12,486 12,492 1977 12,459 12,471 1978 12,404 12,422 Information for the years 1973 to 1978 from the general household survey, relating to Great Britain, showed that around 2½ per cent. of married women and 1½ per cent. of married men lived in private households without a spouse being usually resident with them. There are a number of factors contributing to these figures, which cannot be taken to relate solely to broken marriages.