Civil Partnership (Amendments to Registration Provisions) Order 2005

The noble Baroness asked about the reform of marriage legislation. She was right to recall that in my presentation I said that that was not immediately in prospect, and that is the situation. As I explained, the hope was that it could be done by secondary legislation, but that legislation proved to be defective and therefore it will need primary legislation when time can be found. The noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, asked about the involvement of the Chancellor. It is a question I asked myself when the file landed on my desk. However, some of the provisions in the order require the Chancellor to take action in relation to the authorisation of premises and the setting of fees, and that is why it is with us today. As to the restriction between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm, this is simply to bring the proposals back in line with those which operate for civil marriage. As I said, the hope was that the civil marriage provisions could be amended to become more liberal, in a sense, but because that has not been possible in the time, we have had to go in the reverse direction. That is the reason for that. I thank noble Lords for their support. The making of this order will finalise the detailed arrangements performed in a civil partnership in England and Wales and allow registration authorities to plan with some certainty for the implementation of civil partnerships. It will allow the DTI to issue more detailed final guidance to the public on how to form a civil partnership and allow further secondary legislation to be made for and in connection with the approval of premises. In summary, the making of this order is a significant step towards the implementation of the Civil Partnership Act 2004. On Question, Motion agreed to.