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Marriage: Reviews

Question for Ministry of Justice

UIN 32352, tabled on 13 July 2021

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Law Commission is reviewing non-religious belief marriage as part of their review of marriage; and if he will use the powers that are available to him to legalise non-religious marriage ceremonies to help clear the backlog created by the covid-19 outbreak without waiting for that review to report.

Answered on

19 July 2021

The Law Commission report due later this year is expected to present options for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations and to provide a framework that could allow non-religious belief organisations (such as Humanists) and/or independent celebrants to conduct legally binding weddings.

The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in the light of the Law Commission's recommendations and it is right for us to await these recommendations.

Delivery of registration services falls to local authorities who continue to manage the demand for civil marriage within their respective geographical areas during recovery from the pandemic.

Named day
Named day questions only occur in the House of Commons. The MP tabling the question specifies the date on which they should receive an answer. MPs may not table more than five named day questions on a single day.