The Government will seek advice on whether genetic screening and counselling should be given in areas where first-cousin marriages take place.

Keighley and Ilkley MP Ann Cryer has called for ministers to ensure that health bodies in areas where the practice is the norm offer provisions amid fears genetic problems caused by children born from the marriages are continuing to go ignored.

Health Minister Mike O’Brien said he would investigate what could be done.

He said: “Before giving a firm assurance on that, we need to take some advice on the clinical implications from those whom we would call upon to carry out such tests.”

Mrs Cryer has been an outspoken critic of first-cousin marriages for many years. She said: “I know of several sets of parents in Keighley who are in first-cousin marriages and whose children are severely disabled. I have no doubt that the mothers and fathers being so closely related to each other is a key factor.

“Parents who are unrelated have about a two per cent risk of having a child with a severe genetically transmitted condition. However, in first-cousin marriages this rises to four per cent”.

NHS Bradford and Airedale says significant work is already under way across communities as part of its commitment to increasing awareness of genetic disorders.

A staff programme has recently started advising health professionals how to give “accurate and sensitive” information to families at risk.

Dr Shirley Brierley, consultant in public health at NHS Bradford and Airedale, said: “Families at risk are already supported in making choices by Bradford’s genetics services which hold regular clinics for families.”