Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Stage 1: Framing

Results of framing exercise

A framing exercise is carried out by the Scottish Government to consider issues that might arise from a policy.

In this case, the framing exercise raised a number of points:

• Survivor benefits in pensions can be lower for a surviving same sex spouse or same sex civil partner.
• There could be opposition from some religious bodies to mixed sex civil partnership, who may see it as undermining marriage.
• However, there would be other groups (e.g. equality and human rights organisations) that support mixed sex civil partnership.
• Mixed sex civil partnerships could benefit transgender people in civil partnerships: they will be able to stay in their relationship on obtaining legal recognition of their change of gender if that is what they and their civil partner want.
• A transgender person without a Gender Recognition Certificate who wishes to enter into a civil partnership with someone of the same sex would also benefit from being able to access that type of relationship.
• Opening up civil partnerships to mixed sex couples could prevent civil partners being effectively outed based on information about the type of relationship they are in.
• Some religious bodies could perceive the interim recognition of mixed sex civil partnerships (or equivalents) from other jurisdictions as marriage to be inappropriate
• The Scottish Government intends to recognise mixed sex civil partnerships from other jurisdictions as marriages on an interim basis, followed by recognition as a mixed sex civil partnership when the main provisions of the Bill commence. That could be confusing for people in this type of relationship from other jurisdictions. However, these people will benefit from their relationship being recognised as a marriage as this will ensure that there is a legal framework in place relating to their relationship and its associated rights and responsibilities that can be applied.
• The Scottish Government will not be able to guarantee whether mixed sex civil partnerships would be recognised outside Scotland. Civil partnership (mixed or same sex) is less widely available than marriage and may therefore be less widely recognised.
• More guidance may be needed on entering into a civil partnership or marriage, including easy-to-read guidance. This should make clear the implications of each relationship, including possible differences in cross-border recognition
• If uptake of mixed sex civil partnership is from couples that would not otherwise have married, there will be more people with statutory rights and responsibilities towards each other, such as the duty to aliment (financially maintain) one another. The Scottish Government's view is that uptake of mixed sex civil partnership could be around 110 each year.
• Religious and belief bodies and celebrants that do not wish to register mixed sex CPs will be protected by the provisions in the Bill that make it clear there is no legislative obligation to register these relationships.

Existing evidence

In creating this EQIA, the Scottish Government has reviewed the evidence gathered in response to two separate consultations on civil partnership in Scotland.

2018 consultation

The Scottish Government consulted^[1] in 2018 on the future of civil partnership following the UK Supreme Court decision on civil partnership in England and Wales. A draft EQIA^[2] was produced to accompany this consultation.

The consultation set out two options for change: closure of civil partnership to new relationships from a future date, or extension to mixed sex couples. The purposes of the consultation was to seek fresh insight into the known pros and cons for the two options.

An analysis of consultation responses has been published^[3]. A number of respondents cited equality-related reasons as the grounds for their support of the extension option.

2015 consultation

The Scottish Government also consulted^[4] in 2015 on a review of civil partnership. That consultation set out three options for change: closure of civil partnership to new relationships from a date in the future, extension to mixed sex couples, or taking no action.

Consultation respondents raised a number of equality-related points, including in relation to the Partial EQIA^[5] produced to accompany the consultation. A number of these comments relate to the closure and no action options, and are not relevant to the current Bill.

Extent/Level of EQIA required

A full EQIA is required