1 What the draft Order proposes
1. The draft Legislative Reform (Civil Partnership)
Order 2010 and Explanatory Document (ED) were laid before Parliament
by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 25 October 2010
under section 14(1) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act
2006 (LRRA). The FCO recommended that the negative resolution
procedure should apply to the draft Order.
2. Section 210 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004
(CPA 2004) currently provides for registration of civil partnerships
at British consulates subject to "the presence of a prescribed
officer of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS)". As the
ED explains, at the time the CPA 2004 came into force all UK consular
sections had at least some British consular officers who were
officers of HMDS and thus able to undertake civil partnership
registrations under section 210.[1]
However, since then there has been a programme of change across
the overseas network with the result that many consular officer
jobs are now filled locally. Consequently, consular posts with
only locally engaged staff are now unable to comply with the requirements
of the CPA 2004 for registering a same sex partnership, a situation
which will apply more widely as the localisation programme continues.
3. The draft Order seeks to amend the Civil Partnership
Act 2004 to allow locally engaged officials approved by the Secretary
of State to conduct civil partnership registrations, as is already
permitted in the case of marriages conducted overseas.[2]
It would achieve this by amending the CPA 2004 so that those authorised
to conduct civil partnership registrations include, in cases where
there is no consular representative, persons authorised by the
Secretary of State. The relevant staff are often already trained
to carry out marriage ceremony work, but, where necessary, staff
who undertake the additional work will be given suitable training.[3]
4. The proposal is uncontroversial, with consultation
prompting only one response (from the gay equality organisation
Stonewall) which was entirely in favour. Those actively consulted
were, within Government: the Ministry of Justice, the FCO, the
General Register Office, the then Department of Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and
the Department for Work and Pensions. Those consulted outside
of Government were: Stonewall, the Gay and Lesbian Foundation,
and the Consortium of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Voluntary
and Community Groups. The consultation document was also available
on the FCO website for 12 weeks. As the only consultation response
was entirely in favour, no changes were made to the draft proposal
following consultation.
1 ED, paragraph 5 Back
2
ibid. Back
3
ED, paragraph 13 Back
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