Appendix
3
5BS.I. 2011/2661:
memorandum from the Home Office
Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Approved
Premises) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2661)
1. The Committee has requested
a memorandum on the following point:
Explain why the new version of regulation 4(1)(a)
of the 2005 Regulations set out in regulation 2(6)(a) contains
a reference to an application having been "fully" determined
whereas the previous version of regulation 4(1)(a) refers to an
application having been "finally" determined.
2. The Department acknowledges that the previous
version of regulation 4(1)(a) referred to an application having
been finally determined, whereas the substituted provision
refers to the application having been fully determined.
3. This was not an intentional change and the
Department accepts that this was an oversight on its part. However
the Department does not believe that this impacts on the meaning
of the provision. It is, in the Department's view, clear that
the application must be available for inspection until such time
as it has been decided. In the Department's view, whether that
is fully or finally does not affect the meaning in any way. The
dictionary (OED) definition of fully is "completely"
whereas that for finally "as a final point".
4. However, the Department acknowledges that
finally determined would be preferable since this is the phrase
used elsewhere in the Regulations. Accordingly, the Department
has considered whether a correction slip may be used, but whilst
it believes that the error is small in scale it does not believe
it can be said to be obvious, so has decided against this. The
Department therefore intends to amend this provision at the next
opportunity. In this regard, it anticipates that amendments to
the 2005 Regulations will be required in the next 12 months or
so as more religious organisations ask to be included in the new
Schedule A1 to the 2005 Regulations.
Home Office
12 December 2011
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