Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 17238 on Migrants: Domestic Violence, for what reason his Department does not routinely publish information on the concession or immediate settlement for migrant victims of domestic abuse in a reportable format; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing the number of individuals who have claimed indefinite leave to remain through the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (a) in each year between 2018 and 2023 and (b) annually from 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Data relating to specific concessions within the Act are not published as part of the National Statistics series. The latest quarterly Immigration Systems Statistics were published in February 2024, and include data for the period to December 2023. Table Se_04, “Grants of settlement to spouses on the basis of marriage”, is included within the Settlement summary tables: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d8880b54f1e70011165916/settlement-summary-dec-2023-tables.xlsx.
Table Se_04 provides data on persons “Granted settlement due to domestic violence after leave to remain granted as a spouse”. The published statistics do not show how many or what proportion of these would have applied under DDVC.
There are currently no plans to publish the requested information within these tables. However, the contents of all tables are regularly reviewed to ensure they are appropriate and meet the requirements of users.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many (a) same and (b) opposite sex couples in Northern Ireland have converted their (i) marriage to civil partnership and (ii) civil partnership to marriage.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The General Register Office within the Northern Ireland Department of Finance is responsible for the administration of marriage and civil partnership law in Northern Ireland. They should be contacted for further information regarding this matter.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, how many confirmations there were in each year since 1994.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The table below shows the number of confirmations conducted in the Church of England each year since 1994.
As the Established Church, every member of the public, whatever their belief, living within a parish in England has the right to access baptism, marriage and burial services of the Church of England as long as performing that service is lawful under Canon Law.
The detailed data on the number of baptism and confirmation services is published in the annual data ‘Statistics for Mission’.
Post 2009 figures can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/statisticsformission2022_tables.xlsx
Pre-2009 figures can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/data-services/resources-publications-and-data#na
Year | Number of confirmations |
1994 | 48,024 |
1995 | 43,667 |
1996 | 42,768 |
1997 | 40,881 |
1998 | 39,926 |
1999 | 37,469 |
2000 | 36,387 |
2001 | 33,367 |
2002 | 33,425 |
2003 | 31,797 |
2004 | 30,425 |
2005 | 29,833 |
2006 | 29,380 |
2007 | 27,926 |
2008 | 26,972 |
2009 | 25,028 |
2010 | 22,349 |
2011 | 22,242 |
2012 | 22,540 |
2013 | 19,883 |
2014 | 18,028 |
2015 | 16,723 |
2016 | 15,917 |
2017 | 15,253 |
2018 | 14,475 |
2019 | 13,355 |
2020 | 2,165 |
2021 | 6,388 |
2022 | 10,855 |
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of which region will see the largest transfer of marriage value from freeholder to leaseholder under proposed leasehold reforms.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was published on 11 December 2023 and is available on the Parliament website (attached) at: Leasehold and Freehold ReformBill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament. This includes an estimate of the impact of removing marriage value on different groups and regions.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed removal of marriage value under proposed leasehold reforms on (1) property investors and (2) foreign investors.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
An Impact Assessment for the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was published on 11 December 2023 and is available on the Parliament website (attached) at: Leasehold and Freehold ReformBill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament. This includes an estimate of the impact of removing marriage value on different groups and regions.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason people born after 1 January 1983 are required to provide a valid passport when giving notice of marriage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Every person who gives notice to marry or to form a civil partnership in England and Wales must provide evidence of their given name, surname, date of birth, and nationality. A valid passport or another specified document can be used as evidence of nationality.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Sumbul Rizvi, the UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh, regarding the security situation for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, in particular regarding any increases of serious protection incidents, including reports of killings, torture, abductions and sexual and gender-based violence; and to what extent they take such matters into account in determining the amount and nature of support they provide to Rohinya refugees there.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are concerned at the increase in serious protection incidents in the refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. The UK regularly discusses protection and security challenges for Rohingya refugees with UNHCR, including what more can be done to try to address these issues through programme interventions, and how to support the Government of Bangladesh in their efforts to ensure security in the camps. UK programming is addressing protection issues in the camps, including helping UNICEF tackle child labour and child marriage, and supporting UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) in preventing and addressing gender-based violence. The UK also supports a consortium of International NGOs, led by Norwegian Refugee Council, to address the drivers and impact of protection incidents.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances of honour based violence due to forced marriage there were in the (a) UK and (b) devolved Administration in each of the last three years.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Home Office holds data on the number of police recorded forced marriage offences in England and Wales. The data are given in the table. Police recorded offences in Northern Ireland and Scotland are the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government respectively.
As with all police recorded crime figures, these data only cover offences that were reported to and recorded by the police. It is recognised that force marriage is a hidden crime and victims can be reluctant to bring them to the attention of police or other authorities. These data, therefore, are likely to only represent a proportion of the actual forced marriage offences committed.
The joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provides support and advice for victims, those at risk, and professionals, through its public helpline and inbox.
We are working to increase reporting of this crime which is why the FMU has an extensive outreach programme to provide dedicated training and awareness raising sessions for professionals and communities across the country, including the police and social workers. In 2023, the FMU delivered training and awareness-raising activity to 3,656 police officers, social workers and other professionals. Victims and organisations are encouraged to report potential signs of forced marriage to professionals with safeguarding responsibilities.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
Whether he has had discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I understand my Hon. Friend’s keen interest in this matter and was pleased to meet with her to discuss this in October. As she is aware, this is a devolved matter. Following the restoration of the institutions, I would recommend that she engage with the Finance Minister in Northern Ireland to ask what consideration she has given to this issue.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Stewart of Dirleton on 29 March 2023 (HL6584), when the government-funded feasibility study on the prevalence of female genital mutilation and forced marriage in England and Wales will be published.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Since April 2019, the Home Office has required police forces to provide quarterly data returns on the number of offences they have recorded as being related to ‘honour’-based abuse, which includes FGM. In October 2023, the Home Office published the fourth set of these annual statistics, which included 84 offences relating to FGM covering the year to March 2023. Data on prosecutions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recorded one offence which was charged by the police under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. This was discontinued at its first hearing due to an incorrect charge submitted by the police. Separately, in October 2023, a defendant was found guilty of aiding the female genital mutilation of a non-UK person contrary to section 3 of the Act. This defendant was originally charged in 2018.
In April 2023, the Home Office commissioned the University of Birmingham to conduct a feasibility study to determine whether it is possible to produce a robust prevalence estimate of FGM and forced marriage. This work is ongoing and decisions about next steps will be taken in due course.