To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many adoption agencies in Northern Ireland are allowed to exclude homosexual couples from their services through reference to their charitable instrument. (118409)

Under Northern Ireland adoption legislation, only married couples and single persons, regardless of sexual orientation, may adopt. The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 make it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education and public functions.