§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the recommendations of the Finer Committee on one-parent families which relates to the work of his Department, showing whether the recommendation (a) has been implemented, (b) is under consideration or (c) was rejected.
§ Mr. Allan StewartRecommendations 54 and 59 to 63 are the only parts of the Finer committee report which are specifically directed to the situation in Scotland.
Recommendation 54: Following the report of a working party which took into account the Finer committee's recommendations, the form and content of the published Scottish Civil Judicial Statistics were amended as from 1979.
Recommendations 59 and 61: These recommendations relate to the institution ff a system of administrative orders 74W and to family courts. The Government have stated that they have no plans to reconsider these recommendations which were rejected by the previous Government.
Recommendation 60: The Divorce (Scotland) Act 1976 established irretrievable breakdown of marriage as the sole ground of divorce and applied the same criteria for actions of separation. The Government have recently announced that they will legislate next session to allow divorce actions to be heard in the sheriff court.
Recommendation 62: A new simplified procedure to deal with certain action of interim aliment between spouses was introduced in Scotland on 1 September 1976.
Recommendation 63: The considerations underlying this recommendation continue to be borne in mind. The Scottish Law Commission has reviewed certain key areas of Scots family law which were discussed in the Finer report. Its report In Occupancy Rights in the Matrimonial Home and Domestic Violence formed the basis for the Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981. Its report on Aliment and Financial Provision, which was published in November 1981, is being considered by the Government.