§ Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will introduce amending legislation to permit banks to extend from four months to six months the period for consideration as preferential creditors under the Companies Act 1948, Section 319(4).
§ Mr. Clinton DavisNo. The consultative document on the Employment Protection Bill recently issued by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for
522Wobserved social class differentials. First, there is no corresponding analysis of illegitimate births—which account for about 8½ per cent. of all live births—because of the poor quality or absence of information on father's occupation in such cases. Second, the figures do not give any direct information on the relative fertility levels or on trends in fertility levels of different social classes because figures of the numbers "at risk" in each social class are not at present available. Third, changes in numbers of legitimate births over as short a period as two years will reflect changes in timing of marriages and births rather than point to any change in completed family size. Moreover, the factors affecting timing may impinge differently on different social classes. Fourth, the figures are based on a 1 in 30 sample, so that small differences should be treated with caution.