Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) marriages and (b) other unions between (i) first cousins and (ii) closer relatives in each nation of the UK in each year since 1997; and whether the Office for National Statistics (A) collects and (B) plans to collect such data through (1) the census, (2) birth records and (3) linked administrative datasets.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 3rd October is attached.