Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to bring forward regulations under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 to enable (a) religious marriage for same-sex couples and (b) conversion of Northern Ireland civil partnerships to marriages.

On 13 January 2020, the Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019 came into force in Northern Ireland, extending eligibility to same-sex couples to form civil marriages and allowing opposite-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership.

We are committed to delivering on two remaining areas - same-sex religious marriage and conversion entitlements. A consultation on these two issues closed on 23 February 2020, and we are considering all of the submissions received before bringing forward the necessary legislation as soon as possible before the end of 2020.