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Committee

Equalities and Human Rights Committee 11 June 2020

11 Jun 2020 · S5 · Equalities and Human Rights Committee

Item of business

Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Cole-Hamilton, Alex LD Edinburgh Western Watch on SPTV

Amendment 1 deals with an issue that was raised at stage 1. Section 3 provides that, for an interim period, mixed-sex civil partnerships registered outwith Scotland will be temporarily treated in Scots law as if they were marriages. The purpose of that is to provide couples with legal protections between the commencement of section 3 and the commencement of the rest of the bill. Once the whole bill is commenced, those civil partnerships will be treated in law as civil partnerships, and they will continue to have legal protections under the expanded civil partnership law. Martin Loat of the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign explained to the committee that that is problematic because people who have registered a civil partnership have specifically chosen to do that instead of marrying, after a campaign that was hard fought for and hard won. He urged that the provision be reconsidered or, at least, that the interim period for which section 3 operates be kept minimal. He cited the fact that people in his situation had campaigned for equal civil partnership because of the baggage that is attached to marriage in many different ways. Other witnesses at stage 1 felt that the provision impinged on people’s personal choices. There was a concern that mixed-sex civil partners, if they came to Scotland during the interim period, would be told that they were, in fact, married here. The committee recognised that there is no immediate alternative to the general approach taken by section 3 if we want to provide such civil partners with legal protection as soon as possible. The cabinet secretary reassured the committee that such couples who came to Scotland could still say that they were in a civil partnership. She committed to explore ways to improve the language of section 3, and I am grateful to her for working with me on that. She also committed to look at what could be done to speed up the necessary secondary legislation and commencement of the whole bill, so that the interim period is as short as possible. It would be good to hear an update on that work from the cabinet secretary. Amendment 1 addresses some of the concerns that have been raised. It makes it clear that, although legal protections are provided during the interim period by treating the civil partnership as if it were a marriage in law, that does not prevent the partners from presenting themselves as civil partners and not married. I think that amendment 1 will make the provisions as good as we can make them. If a couple had to complete an application form—for insurance, for example—that asked for their relationship status, they would put “civil partnership” as their answer. The amendment gives reassurance to people in that situation that they will not find themselves required to incorrectly define or describe themselves as married if they come to Scotland during the interim period. Amendment 2 is a technical consequential amendment. I reiterate my thanks to Tim Hopkins of the Equality Network for working with me on these amendments, and the cabinet secretary, who I think is of a mind with me on the issue. I am grateful for her support.