Written Question · S2W-02419 · Session 2
When it will start consultation on civil partnership registration.
The question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will start consultation on civil partnership registration.
The answer
The Scottish Executive has been carefully considering the issue of civil partnership registrationin recent months. The Department of Trade and Industry published a consultationpaper at the end of June on a possible civil partnership registration schemefor same-sex couples. The scheme is a mixture of reserved policies such aspensions, benefits, taxation and immigration issues and devolved matters suchas registration, family law issues on the breakdown of a relationship or thedeath of one party, and detailed considerations such as prison visiting and whocan register a death or consent to medical treatment for an ill partner.
We have been considering howbest to handle the implications of the UK Government’s proposals should theydecide to proceed with legislation.
The Scottish Executive has also been mindful of the legal rights of same-sex couples. Thecreation of a civil partnership registration scheme to provide same-sex coupleswith the opportunity to register their partnership and trigger access to someemployment benefits is the approach taken by the UK Government to ensure compliancewith the EU Employment Directive (2000/78/EC). In the absence of Scottishprovisions, couples will have to travel down south to get some of the rights oftheir counterparts in England and Wales. There could be a legal challenge by a Scottishsame-sex couple on grounds of discrimination.
In examining the options forScottish legislation, key considerations have been the intertwining of devolvedand reserved policy issues, our desire to avoid a complex web of differingrights emerging between Scotland and England and Wales, and the advantageswhich parity offers in relation to cross-border issues. Separate legislationnorth and south of the border would lead to a complicated set of arrangementsunderstood by few people. We have therefore concluded that a Sewel motion toinclude Scottish provisions in any future UK legislation offers the most effective and sensiblemeans of delivering a package of rights and responsibilities for committedsame-sex couples.
The DTI is alreadyconsulting with Scottish interests on the reserved elements of their civilpartnership scheme. It is our intention to consult on the devolved elements andto publish a short paper around the end of this month.
We have been considering howbest to handle the implications of the UK Government’s proposals should theydecide to proceed with legislation.
The Scottish Executive has also been mindful of the legal rights of same-sex couples. Thecreation of a civil partnership registration scheme to provide same-sex coupleswith the opportunity to register their partnership and trigger access to someemployment benefits is the approach taken by the UK Government to ensure compliancewith the EU Employment Directive (2000/78/EC). In the absence of Scottishprovisions, couples will have to travel down south to get some of the rights oftheir counterparts in England and Wales. There could be a legal challenge by a Scottishsame-sex couple on grounds of discrimination.
In examining the options forScottish legislation, key considerations have been the intertwining of devolvedand reserved policy issues, our desire to avoid a complex web of differingrights emerging between Scotland and England and Wales, and the advantageswhich parity offers in relation to cross-border issues. Separate legislationnorth and south of the border would lead to a complicated set of arrangementsunderstood by few people. We have therefore concluded that a Sewel motion toinclude Scottish provisions in any future UK legislation offers the most effective and sensiblemeans of delivering a package of rights and responsibilities for committedsame-sex couples.
The DTI is alreadyconsulting with Scottish interests on the reserved elements of their civilpartnership scheme. It is our intention to consult on the devolved elements andto publish a short paper around the end of this month.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-02419 by reference.