Civil Partnership (Miscellaneous and Consequential Provisions) Order 2005

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Civil Partnership (Miscellaneous and Consequential Provisions) Order 2005 [5th Report from the Joint Committee]. The noble Lord said: The order was laid before the House on 12 October. I shall speak also to the Social Security (Inherited SERPS) (Amendments relating to Civil Partnership) Regulations 2005. In my view, these Statutory Instruments are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Members of the Committee are aware that the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which we debated last year, provides for same-sex couples to gain legal recognition of their relationship by forming a civil partnership. The Committee will recall that on 7 July this year, we debated orders that amended legislation relating to pensions and benefits to make provision for civil partners. I regret that I have to take up noble Lords’ time on these orders. They contain technical changes for which we realised the need only after those earlier orders had been laid before Parliament. I have great sympathy with the officials. They trawled through nine Acts and more than 70 sets of regulations of social    security legislation alone, searching for provisions that had to be modified to take account of civil partnerships. Many references to marriage, widowhood and so on had to be extended. It is perhaps forgivable that a few were missed the first time. I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, who is shaking her head, agrees with me. She raised that point in July. I hope that my sympathy for the officials is shared. I believe that we have made the changes we require to ensure that civil partners and their survivors receive the pensions and benefits to which they are becoming entitled. I am not brave enough to say that I am certain we have found absolutely every tiny change, but I hope that we have. I am sure that that view is shared. The statutory instruments before the Committee today deal with the remaining amendments needed to primary DWP legislation to ensure that same-sex couples are offered the same rights and responsibilities as opposite-sex couples. I believe there are a further five to come from other government departments. I turn first to the Civil Partnership (Miscellaneous and Consequential Provisions) Order 2005. This order amends primary legislation to ensure that surviving civil partners are given the same rights as surviving widowers to inherit graduated retirement benefit. This order provides specifically for the rights they will have before 2010 when widowers’ rights are made equal with those of widows. It also provides that surviving civil partners are afforded the same rights as surviving spouses for the purposes of establishing certain protected rights over and above the guaranteed minimum pension. Furthermore, the order also ensures that the financial settlement rules surrounding earmarking and attachment orders apply to former civil partners in the same way as they do to former spouses. The order also makes an amendment to a Department of Health provision to take account of civil partners in the statutory scheme for the protection of vulnerable adults. Lastly, the order amends excepted matters in Northern Ireland legislation to provide rights for civil partners in respect of occupational and personal pensions. I turn now the Social Security (Inherited SERPS) (Amendments relating to Civil Partnership) Regulations 2005. Members of the Committee will recall that on 28 February this year, we debated at length the subject of inherited SERPS and the new arrangements which give people who defer taking their state pension the choice between a lump sum and extra pension. These regulations do no more than extend the new arrangements to civil partners by allowing any inheritable SERPS to be calculated in the same way as is currently provided for spouses. Where existing provisions treat widows and widowers differently, civil partners are treated in the same way as widowers. These extended rules also allow any inheritable increments or lump sum derived from the deceased civil partner’s deferred SERPS pension to be calculated in the same way for a surviving civil partner as for a widower. The regulations put bereaved civil partners on an equal footing with bereaved spouses in relation to inheritance of SERPS. To ensure that direct discrimination is avoided, civil partners will have those rights that are currently available to widows and widowers from the implementation date and, where there is a difference in treatment, civil partners will have the same rights as married men and widowers. In summary, these statutory instruments deal with the remaining necessary amendments to DWP legislation to ensure that civil partners are afforded the same treatment as married couples. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the draft Civil Partnership (Miscellaneous and Consequential Provisions) Order 2005 [5th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Evans of Temple Guiting.)