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Deposited Papers
Cabinet Office

Jun. 14 2023

Source Page: I. Tables showing statistics on marriages in England and Wales, 1837 to 2020. II. Letter dated 06/06/2023 from Baroness Neville-Rolfe to the Deposited Papers Clerk regarding annual abstract of marriages for deposit in the House libraries. 1p.
Document: marriagesworkbook2020.xlsx (Excel)

Found: number and timing of marriages conducted during 2020 may have been affected by restrictions around ceremonies


Select Committee
Letter from Lord Bellamy on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act

Correspondence Mar. 22 2023

Committee: Women and Equalities Committee

Found: Letter from Lord Bellamy on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act Correspondence


Deposited Papers

Feb. 26 2009

Source Page: Religion or belief : a practical guide for the NHS. 66 p.
Document: DEP2009-0548.pdf (PDF)

Found: Chaplains/spiritual care givers are the trust experts on arranging and providing liturgies and ceremonies


Written Statements
Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022: Commencement - Mon 27 Feb 2023
Ministry of Justice

Mentions:
1: Mike Freer (CON - Finchley and Golders Green) For the forced marriage offence to apply, it is no longer necessary to prove that a form of coercion - Speech Link


Scottish Parliament Written Question
S6W-16048
Wednesday 5th April 2023

Asked by: Greene, Jamie (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - West Scotland)

Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15589 by Elena Whitham on 14 March 2023, whether it will list the stakeholders that it (a) has already consulted and (b) plans to gather views from on potentially raising the legal age of marriage to 18, in line with the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Answered by Brown, Siobhian - Minister for Victims and Community Safety

Scottish Government officials have met with the following groups and organisations on the minimum age of marriage and related matters:

AMINA- Muslim Women’s Resource Centre

Article 12 in Scotland

Association of Registrars of Scotland

Caledonian Humanist Association

Evangelical Alliance

Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid

Humanist Society Scotland

IKWRO Women’s Rights Organisation

Independent Humanist Ceremonies

JustRight Scotland

Karma Nirvana

Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project

Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

Saheliya

Scottish Women’s Aid

Shakti Women’s Aid

Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)

UNICEF UK

They have also met with some Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament and with two Scottish family law academics.

I intend for these meetings to continue. My officials are planning to meet representatives of the following bodies, some of which will have received invitations to discuss the issues.

The Baptist Union of Scotland

The Church of Scotland

The Free Church of Scotland

The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland

Glasgow Central Mosque

Hindu Forum of Britain

The Methodist Church

The Muslim Council of Scotland

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers in Scotland)

The Roman Catholic Church (The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland)

The Salvation Army

The Scottish Association of Mosques

The Scottish Episcopal Church

Sikhs in Scotland

The Scottish Unitarian Association

The Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church

The United Free Church of Scotland

The member is welcome to write to me with details of other interested groups who want to be involved.


Select Committee
Letter from Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, dated 27 February 2023, on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act

Correspondence Feb. 28 2023

Committee: Justice Committee (Department: Ministry of Justice)

Found: Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, dated 27 February 2023, on the Marriage


Deposited Papers
Home Office

Jul. 01 2008

Source Page: Table showing the Home Office (a) chart of accounts and (b) resource account codes and usage descriptions for the 2008/09 financial year. 70 p.
Document: DEP2008-1742.xls (Excel)

Found: Attachments37102.0Court Fines37103.0Magistrates Attachments37104.0Scottish Arrestments37115.0Citizen Ceremonies


Closed Petition closed 8th September 2023

Recognise Pagan handfasting as a legal form of marriage in England and Wales - Final Signatures: 143

Handfasting has been an ancient form of marriage since before Christianity reached the country. Where it is legal to be handfasted, it is not recognised in England and Wales as a legal form of marriage, such as Christian ceremonies are.

Found: Recognise Pagan handfasting as a legal form of marriage in England and Wales


Written Question
Marriage: Ceremonies
Friday 26th May 2023

Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he will make it his policy to recognise Handfastings as a legal ceremony of marriage.

Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

In July 2019, the Government invited the Law Commission to undertake a wholesale review on weddings law in England and Wales. The Law Commission report was published on 19 July 2022 and contains 57 recommendations for extensive legislative reform.

We must now take the time to consider the report recommendations fully. As has been set out in Parliament, marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, and we have a duty to consider the implications of any changes to the law in this area very carefully. We will publish a response to the report in due course.


Parliamentary Research
Persecution of Buddhists in Tibet - CDP-2023-0228
Dec. 12 2023

Found: organizations from organizing religious activities on the internet and broadcasting or recording religious ceremonies