Baroness Cox

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

10 December 2021

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 30 November (HL4074), what estimate has been made of the number of British citizens currently united in religious marriages that have (1) not taken place at registered premises, or (2) been recorded as civil marriages (HL4637).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing marriage statistics for England and Wales. The most recent year for which marriage statistics are available is for 2018 [1]. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for publishing marriage statistics for marriages registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

Information about the nationality of individuals is not collected during the marriage registration process. Some information about the nationality of individuals is reported to the General Register Office (GRO) at the marriage notification stage. This information is not provided to the ONS as we only receive marriage registrations data from GRO.

An annual breakdown of the number of religious marriages and civil marriages which took place in England and Wales is available. It is not possible to determine from marriage registrations data if some religious marriages took place at unregistered premises as this information is not recorded during the registration process. It is also not possible to determine how many civil marriages may have been undertaken in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of certain religious denominations prior to having a civil ceremony.

Table 1 provides the total number of religious marriages and civil religious registered in England and Wales for each year for the period 2008 to 2018.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/datasets/marriagesinenglandandwales2013

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

Baroness Cox

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

23 November 2021

Dear Baroness Cox,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps have been taken to ascertain the number of British citizens currently united in religious-only marriages (HL4074).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing marriage statistics for England and Wales. The most recent year for which marriage statistics are available is 2018¹. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for publishing marriage statistics for marriages registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

An annual breakdown of the number of religious marriages which took place in England and Wales is available. A religious marriage is defined as a marriage solemnised in certified places of worship that are registered for marriage, and is carried out in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of a religious denomination.

To provide the number of British citizens currently united in religious-only marriages would potentially require changes to the civil registration process, as information about the nationality of individuals marrying is not provided to the ONS by the General Register Office, and this information is not collected during the marriage registration process.

Table 1 provides the number of religious marriages registered in England and Wales for each year for the period 2008 to 2018. It is important to note that these counts may be an underestimate as some marriages (such as Muslim and Sikh) undertaken in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of a religious denomination, may take place at unregistered premises. Such marriages do not meet the legal requirements needed in England and Wales for a religious marriage and are recorded as civil marriages.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number of religious marriages² registered³ in England and Wales⁴, 2008 to 2018⁵

Source: Office for National Statistics

1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/datasets/marriagesinenglandandwales2013

2 Marriage statistics are derived from information recorded when marriages are registered as part of civil registration, a legal requirement.

3 Figures include opposite-sex and same-sex marriages registered in England and Wales.

4 Figures exclude marriages to residents of England and Wales that took place abroad.

5 The latest marriage statistics available for are for 2018. It is currently only possible to publish final annual marriage statistics around 26 months after the end of the reference year due to delays in the submission of marriage entries by the clergy and registrars.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Baroness Cox,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many of those who have died in care homes whose death certificate mentioned COVID-19 were (1) discharged from hospital to a care home, and (2) admitted to a care home from their residential address (HL3011).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes mortality data that are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration.

Table 1 below shows the number of deaths that occurred in care homes in England and Wales where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate in 2020 (occurring up to week 16; the week ending 17 April 2020 and registered by 25 April). The data is broken down by place of usual residence, which is either home or care home, and the residency period. The length of residency is therefore used here as an indication of whether the individual had recently moved (within the last 6 months) into the care home, prior to their death. Please note this data is provisional.

Data identifying whether the individual had recently transferred from hospital to the care home, prior to their death, is currently unavailable.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Provisional figures on death occurrences in care homes where coronavirus (COVID-19) was mentioned on the death certificate in England and Wales and place of usual residence was home or care home[1][2][3][4]

Source: ONS

[1]Deaths of non-residents are included in the England and Wales total.

[2]Figures based on date a death occurred rather than registered. There is sometimes a delay in registering deaths, more information can be found in our registration delay release.

[3]Care homes include homes from the chronic sick; nursing homes; homes for people with mental health problems and non-NHS multi-function sites.

[4]These figures are calculated using the most up-to-date data we have available to get the most accurate estimates. Therefore it is based on deaths registered up to 25 April

To support employers to create faith and belief friendly workplaces, Acas has produced Guide on Religion or belief discrimination: key points for the workplace. This guide offers employers, managers, HR professionals, employees, employee/trade union representatives and job applicants a grounding in how to reduce the chance of religion or belief discrimination happening in the workplace, how it might still occur and how it should be dealt with if it does happen.

As signatories to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the UK supports the work of UNESCO in working with the relevant authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan to protect cultural properties at risk in Nagorno-Karabakh. We support the work of the Minsk Group and hope UNESCO- appointed inspectors will be given unfettered access to ensure the effective safeguarding of the region’s heritage. The Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has emphasised the importance of protecting all cultural heritage sites to both the Armenian and Azerbaijani Governments.

We will look at opening outdoor education activities along with the wider hospitality sector in Step 3 of the government’s recovery strategy, currently planned for 4 July. This will be subject to the further scientific advice and the latest risk assessment at the time.

My Department has launched the Cultural Renewal Taskforce to help our sectors’ businesses prepare to reopen when it is safe to do so. Within this taskforce, we have set up a Visitor Economy Working Group to specifically focus on the practicalities and guidelines for restarting tourism activity during the recovery period. We remain in regular contact with outdoor hospitality stakeholders.

The Department for Education is currently advising that professional outdoor education and adventure holiday providers that would usually offer activities for schools and/or summer holiday activities to children should remain closed for the time being.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is abuse and we want to eradicate this practice once and for all. Between 2015-2020, the department made available over £3.5 million from the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme to Barnardo’s in order to establish and run the National FGM Centre. The department’s Innovation Programme funding was time-limited with the proportion of costs reducing from year to year. The funding was intended to build capacity in the sector.

The department has committed some further funding to spread good practice and end this abuse. We have also introduced tough safeguarding laws to compel certain professionals to report if they have encountered cases of FGM in under 18s, provided funding for charities to support victims of FGM and, through our new relationships, health and sex education curriculum, we are teaching pupils about the emotional and physical damage of FGM in an age-appropriate way, as well as teaching that it is a crime.

The government is extremely grateful to all students who chose to opt into a paid clinical placement in the NHS during this extremely difficult time. We have ensured that all students who do so are rewarded fairly for their hard work. Nursing, midwifery and allied health students who volunteered as part of the COVID-19 response have been receiving a salary and automatic NHS pension entitlement at the appropriate band. Time spent on paid placements as part of the COVID-19 response counts towards the requirement for students to complete a specified number of training hours in order to successfully complete their degrees.

Nursing students will continue to be required to pay tuition fees, and there are no plans for a specific debt write-off scheme for these students. Student loan borrowers are only required to make repayments from the April after they have finished their course, and once they are earning over the relevant repayment threshold. The amount borrowers are required to repay each week or month is linked to their income, not the interest rate or the amount borrowed. Repayments are calculated as a fixed percentage of earnings above the repayment threshold, and any outstanding debt is written off at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower.

The government’s overriding priority remains keeping the public safe. Any steps taken as part of a phased lifting of restrictions need to be measured and guided by the science. It is for this reason that, while we have set out that primary schools can now welcome back some more of their pupils, we are advising that professional outdoor education and adventure holiday companies that would usually offer activities for schools and/ or summer holiday activities to children, should be remaining closed for the time being.

However, under the new social distancing guidelines, which allow up to, but no more than 6 people to gather outside, parents can take their children to a 1-1 outdoor coaching or training session, as long as the gathering does not exceed 6 people and social distancing is adhered to. Parents can also take their children to certain other outdoor sport and recreation activities, provided they are meeting these same social distancing requirements. Details of the types of activities included are set out in DCMS’s guidance for the public on the phased return of outdoor sport and recreation, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-phased-return-of-sport-and-recreation/guidance-for-the-public-on-the-phased-return-of-outdoor-sport-and-recreation.

The government will keep this position under review and continue to be guided by the best scientific and medical advice to ensure that the right decisions are taken at the right time.

The UK has contributed £75 million to help the WHO lead international efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 and end the pandemic.

The UK provides humanitarian assistance to Chin refugees in Malaysia and India via the UNHCR - the UN Refugee Agency. The UK has provided UNHCR with predictable, core, unearmarked funding of £35 million per year since 2012, currently as part of a four-year (2017-2020) programme of support alongside other UN humanitarian agencies. In India and Malaysia UNHCR provides support to refugees, including ethnic Chins, comprising advocacy, legal representation, community outreach and assistance programmes.

The High Commission has advocated for and supported the handing over of all children in any form of detention to UNICEF or appropriate agencies and this has led to the release of many hundreds in recent months. We will continue to urge all parties to prioritise mitigating the effect of conflict on civilians, particularly the most vulnerable including women and children. In respect to criticisms of the rehabilitation and reintegration components of Operation Safe Corridor, including evidence of boys accessing the programme, the High Commission in Abuja is currently reassessing its support to Operation Safe Corridor in light of this report. We will need to be fully satisfied with our partners’ plans for addressing these issues in order to continue our support.

UKAid already provides a range of humanitarian and development assistance in Nigeria that supports children affected by the conflict in the northeast, including those previously detained by the Nigerian authorities, and advocacy to the Nigerian authorities to manage these facilities in accordance with domestic and international law. This includes funding partners to provide dedicated case management support to particularly vulnerable children, including unaccompanied and separated minors, where physical and psychosocial health services plus essential material needs, are supported by UKAid.

DFID is actively delivering it Strategic Vision for Women and Girls in Nigeria to promote women’s rights and gender equality. This includes increasing women’s economic empowerment, supporting women’s participation and representation in politics and civil society through governance programmes, and keeping girls in school.

In May 2020, the UN launched an appeal of $384 million to provide a multi sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic (health and non-health sectors) across the whole of Syria. There are currently 58 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Syrian Government-controlled areas, with three deaths. There have also been unconfirmed reports of infections in North West Syria, whilst the Self Administration governing North East Syria have confirmed six cases.

The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on 19 May that despite these numbers, a risk of a wider spread is ever present and called for essential, sustained and impeded humanitarian access. The WHO has warned of an impending ‘explosion’ of cases and a possibly significant outbreak that will be difficult for the already weakened health system to manage after years of conflict.

We are particularly concerned for the welfare of Syrians in IDP camps, who due to poor, crowded living conditions, would be unable to maintain social distance. In areas not currently under Syrian Government control, it is essential that humanitarian access to life-saving services and humanitarian support is unhindered. This must be done in a way that does not increase the spread of the virus, including through support for renewal of the UN Security Council resolution on cross-border humanitarian assistance.

In Syria the UK is one of the leading donors supporting international efforts to deliver vital healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene activities; all of which help to mitigate the threat posed by COVID-19. The UK is monitoring the situation closely and working with humanitarian partners inside Syria to respond to the outbreak and to sustain life-saving services.

The UK is pleased to be a leading donor in responding to the humanitarian crisis in North East Nigeria and will provide at least £60 million in humanitarian aid between April 2020 and March 2021. We review the need for humanitarian assistance on an ongoing basis to ensure that lifesaving assistance is directed towards the most vulnerable people with the acute needs. Following the confirmation of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria we have been monitoring whether there is need for UK-funded humanitarian assistance in other areas of the country. We do not currently assess that there is a need for UK-funded humanitarian assistance beyond the North East region. In the future the UK may decide to provide humanitarian assistance to other areas of Nigeria, based on lifesaving needs.

China is an important trading partner for the UK, and we are pursuing increased bilateral trade.

The Department identifies market opportunities through its dedicated trade and investment network in major cities across China, which is ready to provide advice and support to ensure UK businesses take full advantage of emerging opportunities.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) and its delivery partners provide support for UK-based companies’ outward investments in China and other jurisdictions where there is a positive impact on the UK economy.

As an open economy, we welcome foreign trade and investment, including from China, where it supports UK growth and jobs. But we will not accept investments which compromise our national security.

HM Government has serious concerns about the situation in Xinjiang, with reports of the use of forced labour. It has always been the case that where we have concerns, we raise them – as we did on this issue at the UN Human Rights Council, most recently in September.

We advise businesses with supply chain links in Xinjiang to conduct appropriate due diligence to satisfy themselves that their activities do not support, or risk being seen to be supporting, any violations or abuses of rights and responsibilities. However, we do not currently have plans to ban imports from Xinjiang.

HM Government have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, with credible reports of the use of forced labour. It has always been the case that, where we have concerns, we raise them, as we did on this issue at the UN Human Rights Council in March. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

HM Government is committed to eliminating modern slavery. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 made Britain the first country in the world to require businesses to report on how they are tackling modern slavery, including forced labour, in their operations and supply chains. Section 54 of the Act was designed to empower consumers, investors, civil society and others to scrutinise the action that businesses are taking to identify and address modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.

Since 2020, the Department has provided £123 million to 86 artificial intelligence (AI) technologies through the AI in Health and Care Award. The Award is accelerating the testing and evaluation of the most promising AI technologies likely to meet the aims set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Funding was provided for two projects, one from Mirada Medical and one led by Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust (project OSAIRIS), that specialise in assisting clinicians by automatically segmenting radiotherapy scans. The current process requires a time-consuming manual procedure, outlining healthy organs to be avoided during radiotherapy treatment. These technologies could significantly reduce the time from people being referred for radiotherapy to starting treatment. Award funding was granted to generate more evidence and test the feasibility of AI tools of this type.

NHS England Specialised Commissioning is the responsible commissioner for all radiotherapy services across England and so is responsible for setting evidence-based national service standards for radiotherapy, including service specifications, clinical commissioning policies, and the introduction of more centres and units for radiotherapy.

In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to cancer alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.

NHS England is the accountable commissioner for radiotherapy services, and as such is responsible for setting evidence-based national service standards for radiotherapy, including service specifications and clinical commissioning policies. There are no plans for this to change in the future.

The information requested is not held centrally. Any professional, research or educational partnerships between medical schools, hospitals and other centres are managed by individual institutions.

The Department commissioned Health Education England to review the long-term framework for the health and regulated social care workforce, to ensure that the right skills, values and behaviours are available to deliver high quality care. This review is nearing completion and further information will be available in due course. In addition, the Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long term workforce plan and its conclusions will also be available in due course.

We have raised the continued detention of individuals for expressing their political views, including women and women's rights defenders, with the Saudi government. The FCDO is closely monitoring both Manahel al-Otaibi and Salma al-Shehab's cases, and the British Embassy in Riyadh will continue to attempt to attend trials where possible. I, Minister for the Middle East, regularly raise individual freedom of expression cases with the Saudi authorities, including as recently as 31 January with the President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission. Saudi Arabia remains a FCDO human rights priority country, in part due to continued restrictions on freedom of expression.

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei's (UNISFA) mandate was renewed in November 2023 and amended better to equip the mission to respond quickly to security incidents and to place greater emphasis on community engagement. The UK is using its position as a permanent member of the Security Council to urge both the government of South Sudan and the de facto Sudanese authorities to ensure UNISFA can fully and effectively implement its mandate, in line with their responsibility as host states and the 2011 Status of Forces Agreements. The extension of the UNISFA mandate from six to twelve months will also better enable the mission to develop longer-term strategies.

The UK echoes the UN Secretary-General's encouragement for the African Union to intensify its mediation efforts to help reach a political solution for Abyei. We continue to urge both the Governments of South Sudan and the de facto authorities in Sudan to regularise meetings of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee and agree joint security mechanisms to improve stability in Abyei until its final status can be agreed. The UK has expressed alarm in the UN Security Council about the ongoing positioning of the South Sudanese People's Defence Forces in Abyei and have called upon the Government of South Sudan to immediately withdraw its troops in line with its commitments under the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement.

The UK is using its position as a permanent member of the Security Council to press both the government of South Sudan and the de facto Sudanese authorities to ensure The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) can fully and effectively implement its mandate, in line with their responsibility as host states. The UK released a statement alongside Troika (UK, US, Norway) partners on January 29, to condemn the series of armed attacks in Abyei and urge the Government of South Sudan urgently to withdraw its troops in line with its commitments under the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement.

The influx of refugees and returnees fleeing the conflict in Sudan, inter-communal violence and recurrent flooding has exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation in Abyei. We are working with the UN and the humanitarian community in Sudan and South Sudan to address these immense humanitarian needs. De-escalation of violence and a sustained peace is essential to facilitate the safe return of internally displaced people to their homes. We continue to urge both the Governments of South Sudan and the de facto authorities in Sudan to regularise meetings of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee and agree joint security mechanisms to improve stability in Abyei until its final status can be agreed.