Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2020 to Question 45240, when he plans to publish the responses to his Department's consultation on same-sex religious marriage and entitlements in Northern Ireland, which closed on 23 February 2020.

On 16 July 2020, we published the Government response to the consultation on same-sex religious marriage in Northern Ireland; the same day the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 were laid in Parliament to provide for same-sex religious marriage in Northern Ireland from 1 September 2020.

The Government response can be accessed on nio.gov.uk and outlines the background to the consultation, including the relevant legal powers of the Government to change the law, analysis undertaken for each question asked in the consultation and what the regulations provide.

The Government remains committed to delivering conversion entitlements regulations and publishing the Government response to that consultation as soon as possible before the end of 2020.