§ Mr. Tim Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why eligibility for maternity grant is based on either the mother's contribution or her husband's contributions but not on the father's contributions.
§ Mr. DeakinsMaternity grant provision has always been on the basis that it would not be right in the contributory scheme to extend the use of a man's insurance record to cover children not born within his marriage. There would also, of course, in many cases be difficulty in obtaining satisfactory evidence of paternity.