APPENDIX 47
Memorandum submitted by M N Gulliford
Issue being addressed: Public education
and awareness-raising—the role of education and other agencies
in early identification and prevention for those at risk of forced
marriage or domestic violence.
1. SUMMARY
— a code of practice
should apply to all couples getting married and intending to live
in the UK;
— the code should
include the requirement that registrars and Entry Clearance Officers
provide or facilitate online access to a pre-marital inventory
for marrying couples;
— couples should
obtain a certificate from a registered facilitator that the inventory
and marriage preparation programme had been completed by the couple
in good faith;
— registrars and
Entry Clearance Officers should decline to progress applications
to marry if they are suspicious that the marriage is forced or
bogus;
— failure to produce
a certificate from a registered facilitator would be sufficient
grounds for a registrar or Entry Clearance Officer to decline
to progress an application for marriage or a visa;
— unmarried couples
registering a birth should be offered the opportunity to undertake
a relationship development inventory and a parenting education
programme;
— couples completing
approved programmes should be rewarded with a choice of retail
store vouchers. These should have a higher value the more deprived
the area;
— facilitators providing
approved programmes should be remunerated by redeemable social
education credits issued to couples by registrars. These should
also have a higher value in more deprived areas;
— the gradual introduction
of antenatal classes and a driving test suggest that the public
will take on new responsibilities when they are ready;
— the success of
the driving test in reducing road accidents and research from
around the world recording reductions in divorce rates where marriage
preparation includes a pre-marital inventory provide hope that
couple relationships can be improved through educational programmes.
[see 13. Notes—Assessing the Impact of Community Marriage
Policies on US County Divorce Rates.)
2. BACKGROUND—ANTENATAL
CLASSES AND
THE DRIVING
TEST
— antenatal classes
seem to have started some time after 1960. Compulsory registration
of births occurred in 1915 when a lot more health visitors were
appointed.
— Mr J Beene is
the first person (in the UK) to pass his driving test (1935).
It began as a voluntary test. Miss Vera Hedges Butler was the
first British woman to pass a driving test in 1900 when drivers
were not yet being tested in Britain. The intrepid Miss Hedges
Butler decided to go all the way to Paris to take the French test.
In 1893, France was the first country in the world to introduce
a driving test, along with the first vehicle registration plates
and parking restrictions.
— In 1934, 7,343
people were killed on Britain's roads, despite there being just
2.4 million vehicles on the road, 1.5 million of which were cars,
compared to over 30 million in 2003. Public concern was growing
and drastic action was needed. Transport Minister Oliver Stanley
pushed for the introduction of various road safety measures, including
formal testing for drivers. In 1935, under his successor Leslie
Hore-Belisha, the driving test was introduced: within a year the
death toll had fallen by nearly a thousand.
3. BACKGROUND—POLITICAL—FAMILY
LAW BILL
24 Apr 1996: Column 485
Paul Boateng: ... "In 1971, in the
aftermath of the last great reform of divorce law, Lord Scarman
said: `The law is groping its way towards a new conception of
the duties of married life.'
The duties of married life have been
cast aside. Married life and the importance and value of marriage
are being widely questioned. Marriage is undervalued, marriage
is not supported, marriage is now something that one can win on
a game show...
At the moment, there is no preparation
at all for civil marriage, and there is absolutely nothing on
the face of the Bill to give any hope whatsoever that that will
occur or is envisaged... The Government also have to come forward
with proposals in relation to preparation for marriage and with
proposals that recognise the need for concerted and focused action
to support the institution of marriage and the family. Only then
can hon. Members rest easy in terms of the consequences of their
deliberations today."
4. BACKGROUND—POLITICAL—"DELIVERING
VITAL CHANGE"
Public education and awareness-raising—the
role of education and other agencies in early identification and
prevention for those at risk of forced marriage or domestic violence
A code of practice should apply to all
couples getting married and intending to live in the UK. The possibilities
for marriage preparation and relationship education were outlined
in the White Paper Delivering Vital Change.
In the House of Commons debate (4 November
2002) Ruth Kelly said:
"In our White Paper, [Delivering Vital Change]
the Government explained that the registration service is ideally
placed to act as a focal point for information about services
associated with births, deaths and marriages, such as... marriage
preparation... I believe that there is a genuine opportunity for
local authorities to develop those services innovatively to meet
the needs of their communities, now and in future. A wider role
for the registration service will improve on the current piecemeal
approach by local authorities and will be underpinned by the proposed
national standards." (see 12 International standards.)
5. BACKGROUND—POLITICAL—ARRANGED
AND FORCED
MARRIAGES
Without the protection of a pre-marital
inventory there is a potential difficulty in distinguishing between
an arranged marriage and a forced one, as the following extract
from a House of Commons debate (10 July 2007) on the Forced Marriage
(Civil Protection) Bill illustrates:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070710/debtext/70710-0018.htm
"Greg Knight: Does my hon. Friend agree,
however, that the consultation process should not end with the
passing into law of the Bill? The Bill provides that guidance
can be prepared by the Secretary of State. Is it not important
in formulating that guidance that the Minister continues to listen
to representations?...
Brooks Newmark: I still find it difficult to
distinguish between forced marriage, arranged marriage, and psychological
pressure. How does one define a forced marriage? As we heard earlier,
many women come under enormous psychological pressure to go into
a marriage. Is that a forced marriage? If not, why not?
Humphrey Malins The definition in the Bill refers
to force, including coercion "by threats or other psychological
means", whatever that means. What about the situation where
there is family pressure for an arranged marriage? Would it not
be rather difficult to decide whether that meant it was a forced
marriage?
Brooks Newmark: That was very much the point
I was trying to make at the beginning of my speech, to tease out
from the Solicitor-General how she distinguishes arranged marriages
where psychological pressures are created by families at home.
They may not come from wealthy backgrounds, and financial pressure
may be put on people to get involved in a marriage that ultimately
becomes unwelcome and, in many ways, abusive."
6. THE
ROLE OF
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
The Statistics and Registration Service
Act alters the employment position of registrars who become employees
of the local authority.
All couples expressing an intention of
marrying whether as a sponsor or when attending a register office
should be invited to complete a pre-marital inventory.
— unmarried couples
registering a birth should be offered the opportunity to undertake
a relationship development inventory and a parenting education
programme;
— couples completing
approved programmes should be rewarded with a choice of retail
store vouchers;
— failure to complete
the inventory satisfactorily should be sufficient grounds for
Entry Clearance officers or Registrars to decline to process applications
if they are suspicious that the intended marriage is bogus or
forced;
— failure to obtain
a certificate from a facilitator that a pre-marital inventory
had been completed together with the completion of a programme
of marriage preparation should be sufficient grounds to revoke
leave to remain;
— the evidence provided
by the completion of a pre-marital inventory in conjunction with
a registered facilitator would be crucial in determining if abuse
of marriage is occurring;
— local authorities
should be required to publish a local policy for the promotion
of domestic and social cohesion and follow the code of practice;
and
— if a sponsor or
partner is aware that they will be required to complete a pre-marital
inventory it is more likely they will acquire the necessary life
and language skills.
7. SPEAKING
AND LANGUAGE
SKILLS
For speaking and listening skills the
examinations of the English Speaking Board (www.esbuk.org) are
the most suitable. These are used all around the world. In the
UK the examinations are held in Community Centres and Colleges
of Further Education—ESOL pre-entry and ESOL Skills for
Life.
8. REGISTERED
FACILITATORS OF
MARRIAGE PREPARATION
PROGRAMMES
Using pre-marital inventories should
be asked to sign a certificate confirming that the couple had
entered into and completed the process—including attending
a session to go through the report with the facilitator—in
good faith. The National Couple Support Network is a good basis
for publishing a list of registered facilitators.
9. APPEALS
Couples disputing the validity of a negative
response from a facilitator should have the right to repeat the
process with another facilitator, if appropriate, using a different
inventory.
10. SUFFICIENT
MATURITY AND... ADEQUATE
LIFE SKILLS
The current Home Office consultation
paper Marriage to Partners from Overseas suggests that
couples should have gained sufficient maturity and possess adequate
life skills. A good way for couples to demonstrate this is for
them to complete a psychometric pre-marital inventory and for
a facilitator to sign a certificate confirming they have completed
the programme in good faith. It seems reasonable that the same
expectations of "sufficient maturity and... adequate life
skills" should be applied to all couples marrying in the
UK and to UK citizens who go abroad to marry and should be required
to notify their intention well in advance.
11. A FORM
OF CONFIDENTIAL
STATEMENT SIGNED
BY BOTH
PARTIES
Both parties can confirm their acceptance
of the process and the voluntary nature of the commitment they
are making following their completion of a pre-marital inventory.
This would provide an independent and research-based method of
assessing whether the marriage is being entered into without coercion
and without the threat of domestic violence or other abuse. This
is the most scientific and reliable way of establishing whether
one of the parties is vulnerable.
12. INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS—PRE-MARITAL
INVENTORIES
The tests should be undertaken overseas
or in the UK. There are two international psychometric pre-marital
inventories. FOCCUS (which has been translated into 14 languages)
can be completed on the Internet, so couples do not need to be
in the same country at the time they respond to the questions,
though they do need to go through the report with a facilitator.
This could be done at a consulate, embassy or VAC with a registered
facilitator.
Please see 10 sample questions from www.foccus.org.uk
(Abridged Edition) below:
FOCCUS: an Inventory for Marriage Preparation—Abridged
sample statements FOCCUS inc all rights reserved.
13. NOTES—ASSESSING
THE IMPACT
OF COMMUNITY
MARRIAGE POLICIES
ON US COUNTY
DIVORCE RATES
"A study comparing cities and counties
that had instituted a Community Marriage Policy with cities and
counties that had not instituted the policy indicated CMP localities
had a larger drop in their divorce rate.
Paul Birch and Stan Weed of the Institute
for Research and Evaluation compared the divorce rate of the first
114 CMP counties to the rate in similar counties without the policy.
While the divorce rate fell by 9.4% in the non-policy counties,
counties that had enacted the Community Marriage Policy fell 17.5%
over the same seven-year period. Birch and Weed estimated that
between 31,000 and 50,000 marriages were preserved in the CMP
counties.
http://www.smartmarriages.com/marriage.reports.html
Between 1990 and 2000, cohabitation rates
also fell 13.4% in CMP localities, while they rose by 19.2% in
counties without the policy."
28 January 2008
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