§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has received representations from the Justices Clerks' Society to the effect that magistrates' courts should provide a 24-hour service to give legal protection to battered wives; what reply he has sent; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. JohnNo, but there is a suggestion in a discussion paper by the Justices' Clerks' Society entitled "Towards a Workable Family Court", which was published in the Society's journal for May 1977, that urgent and emergency remedies in the family court field should be readily available on a 24-hour basis. The society has not made any detailed proposals on how this might be done or what it would involve but we would of course be prepared to consider any proposals it may wish to make on this matter.