To ask the Scottish Executive how many couples, in the last year for which statistics are available, chose to have the civil status of marriage created between them in a ceremony conducted by a registrar and how many in a ceremony conducted by a minister of religion authorised pursuant to the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. Statistics published by theRegistrar General for Scotland on 31 July 2003 in his Annual Review ofDemographic Trends show that in 2002 there were 11,449 civil marriages carriedout by registrars and 18,377 marriages carried out by religious celebrants.Provisional figures for the year 2003 show that there were 13,861 civilmarriages and 16,896 religious marriages.