Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships
(asked on 20th July 2020) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on plans to (1) move to an electronic system of marriage registration, (2) add mothers' names to marriage certificates, (3) allow conversions between opposite-sex marriages and civil partnerships, and (4) bring into force reforms to divorce, dissolution, and separation.
Answered by
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office is currently working on implementation plans to introduce the provisions in the Civil Partnership, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc) Act 2019. This will facilitate the move to an electronic system of marriage registration and the update of the marriage entry to include the names of both sets of parents of a couple.
The Government Equalities Office ran a six-week consultation on the future of conversion rights in summer 2019. We are analysing the responses and will publish the government response and bring forward any necessary legislation in 2020.
The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act received Royal Assent in June. The Government has been clear implementing its reforms will be a significant and complex task. Given the scale of the work needed, we are working to an indicative timetable of Autumn 2021.