This House of Lords Library Briefing has been prepared in advance of the second reading in the House of Lords of the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill on 18 January 2019.
Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill: Brefing for Lords Stages (246 KB , PDF)
The Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill is a private member’s bill consisting of six clauses. The bill would facilitate the move from a paper-based system of marriage registration towards a partially electronic system (allowing several connected changes to how marriages are registered) and would grant opposite-sex couples the right to form civil partnerships (currently, only same-sex couples can form civil partnerships). It would also require the Government to publish reports on whether the law should be changed to allow the registration of pregnancy losses which occur before 24 weeks gestation and on whether coroners should be allowed or required to investigate still-births.
It is due to receive second reading in the House of Lords on 18 January 2019, having completed its Commons stages, with cross-party and Government support, on 26 October 2018. It is sponsored in the House of Lords by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative).
Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill: Brefing for Lords Stages (246 KB , PDF)
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill is a private member’s bill that has government support. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Equality Act 2010 to make employers liable for harassment of their employees by third parties (such as customers or clients) and to introduce a specific duty on employers to take all reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees.
Before an employer can make an employee on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave redundant, redundancy protection regulations require an employer to give that employee first refusal on a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists. The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill would give the secretary of state powers to introduce regulations that would enable redundancy protections to apply from the point an employee told their employer that they were pregnant, and six months after returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.
On 1 July 1972 the UK’s first Pride march was held in London. This date was chosen as the nearest Saturday to the anniversary of the riots, or uprising, at the Stonewall Inn in 1969, where LGBT+ patrons had been targeted by the New York Police Department. Liberation organisations were inspired to action, and Pride marches have since become annual events throughout the UK and around the world. This LGBT+ history month, this article explores 50 years of Pride.
