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.Found: number and timing of marriages conducted during 2020 may have been affected by restrictions around ceremonies
Feb. 26 2009
Source Page: Religion or belief : a practical guide for the NHS. 66 p.Found: Chaplains/spiritual care givers are the trust experts on arranging and providing liturgies and ceremonies
Correspondence Mar. 22 2023
Committee: Women and Equalities CommitteeFound: Letter from Lord Bellamy on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act Correspondence
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.Found: Attachments37102.0Court Fines37103.0Magistrates Attachments37104.0Scottish Arrestments37115.0Citizen Ceremonies
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
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.
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
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
Found: organizations from organizing religious activities on the internet and broadcasting or recording religious ceremonies
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.