Clause 4 - Statutory adoption pay
Employment Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 150, in page 15, in line 21, leave out from 'him' to 'has' in line 23 and insert
''and another person and the other person.'.
I confess that the amendment was drafted before the debate in which the Minister made it clear that only married couples can jointly adopt a child under existing legislation. Given what the Minister has just said about future-proofing legislation, I do not want to pre-empt the Government's legislation on adoption. It is clear that their intention is to allow non-married couples to jointly adopt—[Interruption.] I mean to say jointly to adopt, because, of course, I do not want to be accused of splitting infinitives. Has the Minister considered future-proofing the Bill by making neutral the reference to the civil status of the adopting couple?