Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 5 September (HL Deb, col 1787), what plans they have to review the minimum age of marriage in England and Wales.

The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out the brutal practice of forced marriage, with our joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) which leads efforts to combat it both at home and abroad. We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK. Forcing someone into marriage is an offence regardless of whether the marriage is legally binding.

We are aware of concerns over the use of parental consent in relation to U18 marriages such marriages and will continue to keep this under review.