In his Liverpool speech, Sir James, who is to retire this summer, said: ‘In contemporary Britain the family takes an almost infinite variety of forms.
‘People live together as couples, married or not, and with partners who may not always be of the other sex. Children live in households where their parents may be married or unmarried.
‘They may be brought up by a single parent, by two parents or even by three parents…
‘Their siblings may be only half-siblings or step-siblings… Some children are conceived by artificial donor insemination. Some are the result of surrogacy arrangements.
‘The fact is that many adults and children, whether through choice or circumstance, live in families more or less removed from what, until comparatively recently, would have been recognised as the typical nuclear family.’
Sir James said: ‘This, I stress, is not merely the reality; it is, I believe, a reality which we should welcome and applaud.’
