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.

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.