A think-tank report said that the government had 'consistently undermined' the institution of marriage and the importance of two-parent families. Married two-parent families produced the best outcomes for both adults and children: but the government had actively sought to disincentivize marriage and disadvantage married couples, including through the tax system.
Source: Why Is the Government Anti-Marriage? Family policy derived from strong evidence would lead to policies which supported marriage, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined the issue of forced marriage. There was a need for a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of forced marriage. South Asian and Muslim communities were perceived as being largely responsible for forced marriages: but the range of communities in which forced marriage occurred was much wider.
Source: Khatidja Chantler, Geetanjali Gangoli and Marianne Hester, 'Forced marriage in the UK: religious, cultural, economic or state violence?', Critical Social Policy, Volume 29 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Nov
Researchers examined the prevalence of forced marriages, and the way in which services were responding to them. The number of reported cases in England was estimated at 5-8,000: but there were a potentially large number of victims who had not come to the attention of any agencies or professionals. 97 per cent of those seeking help or advice from local organizations were identified as Asian. There were inconsistent levels of awareness of the problem, and of the guidelines and powers for tackling it, across agencies and among professionals within the same agency. The government issued revised guidelines designed to help front-line practitioners work more closely together to better identify and protect children and adults at risk of forced marriage.
Source: Anne Kazimirski et al., Forced Marriage: Prevalence and Service Response, Research Report RR128, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260) | Eleanor Stobart, Multi-Agency Practice Guidelines: Handling Cases of Forced Marriage, Forced Marriage Unit (020 7008 0151)
Links: Report | Guidelines | Hansard | DCSF press release | ACPO press release | Local Government Chronicle report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jul
A think-tank report set out a series of proposals designed to put marriage at the heart of family life. It said that there should be a compulsory three-month 'cooling off' period in which estranged couples should find out about the implications of a divorce; rejected moves to give couples living together the same legal rights as those who were married; and called on the government to give 'strong encouragement' to marriage preparation classes.
Source: Every Family Matters: An in-depth review of family law in Britain, Centre for Social Justice (020 7620 1120)
Links: Report | Summary | CSJ press release | Speech | Bar Council press release | Christian Institute press release | Muslim Public Affairs Committee press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
An article summarized mid-2007 cohabitation estimates produced for England and Wales, and compared these with estimates made for previous years. In 2007 it was estimated that the number of cohabiting adults had increased to 4.5 million (10 per cent of the population over 16). Cohabitation trends provided evidence to suggest that cohabitation would continue to rise for never-married adults (and therefore overall), particularly at older ages.
Source: Ben Wilson, 'Estimating the cohabiting population', Population Trends 136, Summer 2009, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | ONS press release
Date: 2009-Jun
An article examined lifelong childlessness, which had been a prominent aspect of fertility declines in the 1980s and 1990s. Single women, and women who were co-habiting with their partner, were found to be more likely to remain childless throughout their lives than those who were married.
Source: Martina Portanti and Simon Whitworth, 'A comparison of the characteristics of childless women and mothers in the ONS Longitudinal Study', Population Trends 136, Summer 2009, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | ONS press release
Date: 2009-Jun
An article examined lifelong childlessness, which had been a prominent aspect of fertility declines in the 1980s and 1990s. Single women, and women who were co-habiting with their partner, were found to be more likely to remain childless throughout their lives than those who were married.
Source: Martina Portanti and Simon Whitworth, 'A comparison of the characteristics of childless women and mothers in the ONS Longitudinal Study', Population Trends 136, Summer 2009, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | ONS press release
Date: 2009-Jun
According to provisional statistics, the marriage rate for women in 2007 was 19.7 women marrying per 1,000 unmarried women aged 16 and over, down from 20.7 in 2006. In 2007 there were 21.6 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried men aged 16 and over, down from 23.0 in 2006. These were the lowest marriage rates since they were first calculated in 1862.
Source: Press release 12 February 2009, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Feb