asked the Attorney-General whether in the interest of protecting children in matrimonial cases, he will consider immediate legislation for the appointment of court welfare officers as recommended in the Denning Committee Report.

As my right hon. and learned Friend stated in reply to the hon. and gallant Member for Brixton (Lieut.-Colonel Lipton) on 16th February last, I cannot hold out any hope of legislation in the immediate future.

Does my hon. and learned Friend realise that thousands of children are at the present time the shuttlecocks in a game of evaded responsibilities, and is it not more than time that someone was appointed in these divorce cases to look after their interests and settle their future in a satisfactory way?

The position of children involved in matrimonial disputes presents a cogent problem and one which is difficult of solution. I do not want it to be taken from anything I have said that the Government have rejected the recommendations in this respect of the Denning Committee.

Do the words "immediate future" mean during this Session or possibly next Session?

They mean the immediate future. That is what the Question asked.