Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of granting legal recognition of (a) outdoor civil marriages and (b) humanist marriages to help tackle the backlog in demand for officiants who can conduct legally recognised marriages.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Delivery of registration services falls to local authorities who continue to manage the demand for civil marriage within their respective geographical areas during recovery from the pandemic.
The Government has published guidance on gov.uk to assist couples in planning for their marriage or civil partnership formation in England, and for venues that host ceremonies and receptions to enable them to prepare for these events. The guidance sets out how this can be done in a manner that is safe and complies with legal requirements and social distancing guidelines. The Welsh Government has published similar guidance in respect of Wales.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of granting interim, time-limited legal recognition to humanist marriages on the same basis as has been given for outdoor civil marriages.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Delivery of registration services falls to local authorities who continue to manage the demand for civil marriage within their respective geographical areas during recovery from the pandemic.
The Government has published guidance on gov.uk to assist couples in planning for their marriage or civil partnership formation in England, and for venues that host ceremonies and receptions to enable them to prepare for these events. The guidance sets out how this can be done in a manner that is safe and complies with legal requirements and social distancing guidelines. The Welsh Government has published similar guidance in respect of Wales.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his timeframe is for bringing forward legislative proposals on marriage law after the conclusion of the Law Commission’s weddings review.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has yet to receive the Law Commission’s proposals for consideration. The Law Commission expects to deliver its final proposals for reform of the law on marriage ceremonies later this year. The Government will give them careful consideration and decide on next steps.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has made available for people who (a) want to have a legally recognised humanist marriage and (b) must also have a civil marriage to gain legal recognition but are unable to do so as a result of the challenges of registrar availability in some parts of country following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Delivery of registration services falls to local authorities who continue to manage the demand for civil marriage within their respective geographical areas during recovery from the pandemic
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the announcement of 20 June 2021 that secondary legislation will be brought forward to permit outdoor civil wedding and partnership registrations, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to legally recognise humanist marriages on the same basis.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting legal recognition to humanist marriages on the same time-limited basis as proposed for outdoor civil marriages.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to legally recognise humanist marriages in England.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing temporary legal recognition to humanist marriage ceremonies in the same way that temporary legal recognition has been granted to outdoor civil ceremonies until April 2022.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
A Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations, and powers to hold weddings remotely in a national emergency. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage (including humanist marriage) on the basis of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Cox (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, published on 14 March 2018, what progress they have made on exploring "the legal and practical challenges of limited reform relating to the law on marriage and religious weddings".
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
As the Government has made clear, this is a difficult issue which requires careful consideration. The Law Commission is separately looking at aspects of the problem through their review of the law governing legal marriage ceremonies. The Law Commission has now consulted with a wide range of groups with an interest and is considering the responses received. The Government looks forward to receiving the Law Commission’s final report and recommendations later this year and will give them careful consideration.
The Government is aware that a separate Nuffield Foundation study, launched in September 2020 and due to report later this year, is investigating why marriage ceremonies occur outside of the legal framework for weddings in England and Wales. The Government will also wish to consider its findings.
Any proposals affecting how religious groups are permitted to conduct marriages must be thoroughly assessed for their fairness.
Asked by: Lord Low of Dalston (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take further to the High Court’s judgment in Harrison v Secretary of State for Justice & others, published on 31 July 2020; and what consideration they have given to introducing legislation to recognise humanist marriages in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Government announced in June 2019 that the Law Commission will conduct a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent.
The Commission launched its consultation on 3 September 2020 and it closed on 4 January 2021. The law on wedding ceremonies is a complex and important area of the law. The Commission considered it essential to conduct an extensive consultation with the wide range of interested groups and individuals who would be affected by reform.
The Commission expects to report to Government with its recommendations in the second half of this year. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.