century. This peaked in 1964, with a TFR of 2.95. However by 1973, the fertility rate of the country collapsed again below replacement, and has not since in the present day reached a replacement level again. However population issues such as the sub-replacement level fertility rate have often been categorised as something in which the government does not view as a major issue. Little incentives were made and have been made to increase the birth rate throughout the UK's post war period. However Wendy Singe argues that, while compared to other countries, the United Kingdom managed to retain a similarly 'high' (for post-war European standards) fertility rate with a quote; 'liberal market economy and residual approach to welfare, a combination of high female employment and relatively high fertility has been achieved without a coherent or generous set of work-family reconciliation policies.' Family planning policies were enacted during the 1970s due to concerns of rapid population growth during the 1960s. The 1973 NHS Reorganisation Act is an example of such policies, within this act family planning advice and supplies were first issued to the public. Over this time period, with previous liberalising acts such as the Abortion Act and the Divorce Reform Act, and scientific developments such as increased access to contraceptive methods to reduce pregnancies, such as the contraceptive pill, it is generally ascribed that these social changes were the major contributors to the decline of the fertility rate below replacement level in the latter half of the 20th century. With these changes also, pre-marital conceptions fell to 1950 levels by the late 1970s. This pattern of decline of the birth rate is similar to other European countries. The government's position was further presented and then re-iterated in 1984 at the UN Conference on Population in Mexico;The United Kingdom('s) government does not pursue a population policy in the sense of actively trying to influence the overall size of the population, its age-structure, or the components of change except in the field of immigration. Nor has it expressed a view about the size of population, or the age-structure, that would be desirable. ...The current level of births has not been the cause of general anxiety. The prevailing view is that decisions about fertility and childbearing are for people themselves to make, but that it is proper for government to provide individuals with the information and the means necessary to make their