Mrs Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many military chapels there are in England and Wales; and how many such chapels are registered to conduct (a) same-sex and (b) other marriages.

Penny Mordaunt

There are 190 military chapels in England and Wales registered for marriages under the rites of Church of England or otherwise, as described under sections 69 and 70 of the 1949 Marriage Act.

The Ministry of Defence allows same-sex marriages in military chapels, but none of the Sending Churches using the chapels currently allows same-sex marriages to be conducted there. I have asked the Chaplaincies of the three Services to advise me on how Parliament’s sanction of same sex-marriages may be fully implemented.