Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to assist with the extension of the Defamation Act 2013 to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The civil law of defamation is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland. As such, the development of, or any reform to, the law in this area is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly to consider.
I note that the Northern Ireland Minister for Finance, Conor Murphy MLA, updated the Assembly late last year and that work is underway in his department to review defamation law. An MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) has also been granted consent by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to introduce a Bill into the Northern Ireland Assembly on this issue. I understand that the proposed Bill is currently being considered by the NI Assembly Speaker as per usual processes.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to relax the requirement that couples wishing to have a civil marriage in England and Wales must be resident in the registration district for at least seven days before giving notice of marriage, to enable couples from Northern Ireland, including same-sex couples, to give notice by post or other means.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Law Commission undertook a scoping study to identify options for reform to marriage law and the Government gave this careful consideration. We have concluded that now is not the right time to develop options for such reform. The priority is to identify options for alleviating pressures on the family justice system from a sustained increase in demand. The Government will, however, keep marriage law under review for possible inclusion in future reform work.