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Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Approved Premises) (Amendment) Regulations 2011

My Lords, I start by echoing the words of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Oxford when he suggested that we needed to conduct debates of this sort with restraint, mutual respect, and generosity. I am very grateful to the House that that has been the case today on a subject that can generate very strong feelings. To my noble friend Baroness O’Cathain, I say that although, as she knows, I will not be able to support her Motion, and although I very much hope she will not be pressing it to a Division—I do not think it would be wise so to do—I am grateful for the fact that we have had the debate. In my view, it has brought a great deal of clarity to this subject—particularly on the legal aspects of it. I am therefore grateful for the interventions from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, and from a whole host of other legal luminaries sitting all round the Chamber. I am also very grateful that a large number of Peers have quoted from the letter that I sent out two days ago. This does at least encourage me to think that it did reach most noble Lords, though I appreciate that one or two noble Lords did not receive it. For that I can only apologise, but I can make copies available, should anyone wish to have one, after this debate. I will be quoting from my letter later on, possibly in response to the request from the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill to, as it were, add a Pepper v Hart element to what I have to say. We recognise that in allowing this expression of religious freedom and advancement for lesbian, gay and bisexual equality, we need to ensure that there are sufficient protections from legal challenge for faith groups who do not wish to host partnerships on their premises. We are confident that faith groups will not be forced to host civil partnership registrations on their premises if they do not wish to do so. The fundamental point is that Section 202 of the Equality Act inserts into the Civil Partnership Act 2004 the statement: "““For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Act places an obligation on religious organisations to host civil partnerships if they do not wish to do so.””." As the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, seemed to imply, one does not need to be much of a lawyer to know that that is about as clear as you can get. We need only to repeat those words: "““For the avoidance of doubt””," again and again to make that quite clear. Therefore we are grateful that the noble Lord, Lord Alli, made it clear as could be when he put in his amendment. I think this was back in March of last year, as we were rushing towards the election. Similarly, the order makes it clear when it says, in proposed new Regulation 2B: "““Nothing in these Regulations places an obligation on a proprietor or trustee of religious premises to make an application for approval of those premises””." You do not have to be a lawyer to know that that is pretty clear. It cannot be argued that religious organisations could be at risk of successful legal challenge under other provisions in the Equality Act 2010 when it was that Act which itself put that statement into the Civil Partnership Act. We can, indeed must, assume that Parliament speaks consistently in one Act and, I would hope, in all other Acts. The regulations, similarly, cannot override primary legislation and the primary legislation that enables these regulations makes it clear there is no obligation. To make this abundantly clear, that is reiterated in new Regulation 2B, which is inserted by these regulations and which I read out. There are further protections for ministers of religion. As the process is to approve premises rather than individuals, it ensures that no ministers will be able to host civil partnerships unless the premises they lead the worship at are approved. Ministers also benefit from the protections in Schedule 23 to the Equality Act, which allows faith groups to restrict the use of their premises on the basis of religious doctrine or the strongly held convictions of the religion’s followers. Finally, other protections exist in the regulations we are debating. When making an application for religious premises to be approved, the trustee or proprietor of the premises will be required to provide the necessary consent from the governing authority of the faith or faith groups using the premises. Where more than one organisation uses the premises for worship, all will need to provide their consent to an application being made. If one organisation does not consent, the approval would be refused or immediately revoked by the local authority. There will also be a period of 21 days for public consultation on each application, where the local authority will consider the objections. The Government consider that this package of protections is comprehensive and removes the possibility of legal challenge. I want to keep this brief because I think that the House wants to come to a conclusion. I turn finally to the letter I sent out. What I was trying to get over in that letter to all Members of the House was this important point: "““I must stress that this provision is entirely permissive””." I also stress that we are entirely confident that faith groups will not be forced to host civil partnerships. We have taken legal advice, and we have listened to a great deal of it today in this Chamber. I am grateful for all those who spoke because it made it absolutely clear. My noble friend Lady O’Cathain thought that by inserting the last paragraph into my letter, I was expressing that I had some doubts. I assure her that I have no doubts but, in the extraordinarily unlikely event that there was some legal challenge that we had to face, I will repeat what I had to say in that last paragraph. I made it clear that, while we do not believe that this will happen, if a successful legal challenge were ever brought, I would like to provide reassurance—I provide it now, from this Dispatch Box—that the Government would immediately review the relevant legislation. We are absolutely clear that the voluntary nature of this measure must be maintained.