rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 17 October be approved [6th Report from the Joint Committee].
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving the draft Civil Partnership (Judicial Pensions and Church Pensions etc.) Order 2005, I shall speak also to the remaining orders standing in my name. I am satisfied that the provisions of these statutory instruments are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Your Lordships will recall debating a number of statutory instruments since the Civil Partnership Act obtained Royal Assent. The last time was in October, when I set out that there were five affirmative orders still to be debated by the House. Four of them are before us today. The remaining order is the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (International Immunities and Privileges, Companies and Adoption) Order 2005. It is made under Section 259 of the Act amending the International Organisations Act 1968, the Companies Act 1985 and the Adoption and Children Act 2002. With that order, which I understand was laid before this House today, we are confident that we will have made all the changes necessary to complete the implementation of the Civil Partnership Act.
I am aware that this has at times seemed like an endless raft of legislation, but each statutory instrument has been essential in delivering the wide-ranging and progressive legislation that we agreed during the passage of the Bill. The orders and regulations before us are no different; they represent a varied set of changes, and I will summarise the main issues this evening.
First, I turn to the Civil Partnership (Judicial Pensions and Church Pensions, etc.) Order 2005. The order is made under Sections 255 and 259 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004. Noble Lords will recall that we debated at length scheme members’ rights to receive survivor pensions for civil partners. Amendments which this House approved on 11 July have already been made under the Pension Schemes Act 1993 to require contracted-out pension schemes to provide surviving civil partner pension benefits in respect of service accrued from 6 April 1988. In accordance with this requirement, the order provides that the judicial pension schemes will provide survivor benefits for civil partners based, as a minimum, upon members’ contracted-out rights accrued since 6 April 1988.
In addition, where the respective judicial schemes currently offer surviving spouses’ pensions on more preferential terms than the minimum required of contracted-out schemes, the order amends the schemes so that the same treatment is offered in respect of surviving civil partners’ pensions. Where the existing provisions of the schemes treat widows and widowers differently, civil partners are treated in the same way as widowers.
Pension changes are necessarily detailed and technical. The draft order modifies both the Judicial Pensions Act 1981, which continues to apply to a number of office holders appointed prior to April 1995, and the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993, which applies to those appointed after that date, as well as to those who have opted to transfer from the scheme under the 1981 Act into that created by the 1993 Act.
The draft order also modifies the subordinate legislation of those pension schemes. For the most part, the order simply adds appropriate references to civil partners and civil partnerships to the existing provisions relating to surviving spouses. The remaining amendments provide transitional arrangements for existing members of the judiciary and for the calculation of the contributions required from them. Similar changes are made to the separate legislation affecting those judicial office-holders in Northern Ireland whose benefits fall to be determined under older legislation.
The changes do no more than ensure the equal treatment of civil partners under the judicial pension schemes. The order also amends Church legislation in relation to pensions and certain other matters, such as the provision of residences to retired clergy, to ensure that civil partners are treated in the same way as spouses. In particular, Schedule 7 contains amendments to the Church of England Pensions Scheme established under the Church of England Pension Regulations 1988 and the Church of England Funded Pensions Scheme established by trust deed under the Pensions Measure 1997. This is to ensure that such provision complies with legal requirements in relation to civil partners’ pensions, in particular those relating to contracting out, and, for future service under the funded pensions scheme, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003.
It is, of course, the convention that the Government do not legislate for the Church of England without its consent. These provisions are being included at the request of the Church of England, having been approved by the House of Bishops and the Archbishops’ Council.
I shall now turn to the Civil Partnership (Jurisdiction and Recognition of Judgments) Regulations 2005. These regulations are made under Section 219 of the Civil Partnership Act, which gives powers to make provision in relation to the jurisdiction of the courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to hear civil partnership proceedings. It also contains powers to make provision for the recognition of orders made in other member states relating to civil partnership proceedings. In particular, the regulations make provisions on jurisdiction of the courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland based on the approach taken in matrimonial matters as set out in the council regulation known as Brussels II Bis. This council regulation deals with divorce, annulment and legal separation in matrimonial matters. It does not cover civil partnerships. In order to ensure consistency in relation to civil partners, the regulations make provisions corresponding to the council regulation.
The purpose of the recognition parts of these regulations is to enable civil partners who obtain a dissolution, annulment or legal separation in another member state to have the same recourse as married couples to resolve issues arising from relationship breakdown in this country. However, I should make it clear that there is no obligation on other member states to recognise our civil partnerships. Indeed it is a matter for each member state to decide whether it wishes to recognise another country’s same sex relationships.
The third draft order I shall speak to is the Civil Partnership (Family Proceedings and Housing Consequential Amendments) Order 2005. The Civil Partnership Act made a substantial number of amendments to primary legislation to ensure parity of treatment between spouses and civil partners. However, power to make further consequential and supplementary amendments was included in Section 259 of that Act. This order invokes the powers under that section of the Act.
The amendments in the order are, for the most part, minor and consequential. I shall take each in turn. The order amends the Family Law Act 1986 to enable civil partnership proceedings to be treated in the same way as matrimonial proceedings. The amendments were withdrawn from the Act before introduction as it became clear that alterations to the same provisions of the Family Law Act would need to be made to implement council regulation Brussels II Bis before the Civil Partnership Act could come into force. It seemed sensible to amend the Family Law Act as a consequence of the council regulation first and make the amendments in respect of the Civil Partnership Act in this regulation once the Family Law Act provisions were settled. The Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 is amended to enable the transfer of family proceedings from a High Court to a civil partnership proceedings county court. A civil partnership proceedings county court is the name given to those courts which will be given the jurisdiction to hear civil partnership proceedings. Finally the Housing Act 1996 is amended to enable a deceased tenant’s civil partner to succeed to an introductory tenancy in the same way as a deceased tenant’s spouse can do at present.
Finally I shall speak to the Civil Partnership (House of Commons Members’ Fund) Order 2005. The trustees of the House of Commons Members’ Fund have the power to make discretionary payments to former Members of the House of Commons, their widows, widowers or orphan children, having regard to their circumstances. So, for example, the trustees might choose to make a one-off grant to facilitate a minor home adaptation for an elderly widow whose income is small.
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 amended the House of Commons Members’ Fund Act 1948 with the intention of extending the range of potential beneficiaries of discretionary payments to surviving civil partners of persons who have been Members of the House of Commons. However, an amendment to the House of Commons Members’ Fund Act 1939, which provides an overall definition of the categories of potential beneficiaries of payments from the fund, was omitted in error.
This order, made in exercise of powers conferred by Section 255 of the Civil Partnership Act, corrects the omission and will ensure that trustees will have the power to make discretionary payments to surviving civil partners as originally intended. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 17 October be approved [6th Report from the Joint Committee]—(Lord Evans of Temple Guiting.)
Civil Partnership (Judicial Pensions and Church Pensions, etc.) Order 2005
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
(Labour)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 30 November 2005.
It occurred during Debates on delegated legislation on Civil Partnership (Judicial Pensions and Church Pensions, etc.) Order 2005.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
676 c291-4 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Legislation
Civil Partnership (House of Commons Members Fund) Order 2005Civil Partnership (Family Proceedings and Housing Consequential Amendments) Order 2005
Civil Partnership (Judicial Pensions and Church Pensions etc) Order 2005
Civil Partnership (Jurisdiction and Recognition of Judgments) Regulations 2005
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