LORD SALTOUNasked Her Majesty's Government the number of deserted wives in receipt of assistance on January 1, 1938, January 1, 1948, and January 1, 1952 (or, if this figure is not available, 1951).
§ THE EARL OF SELKIRKIt is estimated that there are about 70,000 women receiving National Assistance who are married but live apart from their husbands. About 20,000 of these women are old age or retirement pensioners, and it would appear that in a considerable proportion of cases the separation is of long standing, but it is not known how many of the women have been "deserted." Information about the numbers in 1938 or 1948 is not available.
House adjourned at twenty-one minutes past seven o'clock.