3 PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSAL
9. A detailed description of the legislative purpose
of the proposed Order is given at Chapter six of the explanatory
statement under eighteen thematic headings. The GRO does not
make reference to the provisions of the Order in describing the
purposes of its proposed legislation, which is unhelpful.
10. The purpose of the proposal is to provide for
thorough modernisation of legislation governing the structure
of the civil registration service in England and Wales and the
processes by which that service interacts with members of the
public as providers of information and recipients of services.
Central to the Government's plans for the future development
of the service is the ending of the use of register books for
recording births and deaths and the establishment of the central
database which will act as the primary formal record of that information
(in addition to information concerning marriages). The proposed
Order would repeal the requirement for the current paper register
system and create an obligation on the Registrar General to establish
and maintain a single central register in such a form as he may
determine. Both the Registrar General and local registration
authorities would be able to enter information into this new Register
and the public, with certain limitations, would have access to
it. In time, information held in the current paper registers
would be transferred onto the database and the former register
books would be archived by the relevant local authority in each
area. Although it is intended that the new register will have
the form of an electronic database, this is not actually a legal
requirement of the proposed Order.
11. The Order would also change the structure of
the registration service and the legal position of various persons
within it. The service is presently provided under the Registration
Acts by local superintendent registrars and registrars of births
and deaths who discharge their duties with respect to the area
covered by each local authority. These office holders are appointed
by the local authority, salaried and otherwise funded by the local
authority, but are not its employees and are not subject to its
management. They are independent statutory office holders who
hold office at the Registrar General's pleasure. Under the proposal,
registration service staff would transfer to the employment of
the local authority covering the registration area in which they
presently work. Their functions as office holders would be assumed
by the local authority which would become responsible for the
delivery of face-to-face registration services in that area, subject
to a statutory Code of Practice and powers of intervention of
the Secretary of State under the Local Government Act 1999.
12. The establishment of the single electronic register
will enable the service to offer wider choices as to how individuals
required to register births and deaths may give the necessary
information. It is proposed that, in addition to the current
facility for giving the information at the registration office
for the area in which the birth or death occurred, individuals
will be able to give the information at any other register office
in England and Wales, or remotely by telephone or the internet.
It is intended that helpline facilities would be made available
from a national call centre and from the internet registration
portal (these services being provided under the exercise of the
Registrar General's discretion, and as a matter of his policy
- he would be under no legal obligation to provide them). Information
about registration services would thereby be made continuously
available to the public and remote registration would be possible
for much longer than current registration facilities are open.
Various safeguards against the possibility of fraudulent registration
of births, still-births and deaths are suggested.
13. The holding of information on the central database
would make it feasible to annotate the records of individuals
in the register to show that records of different events relate
to the same individual. The proposal contains provision permitting
the Registrar General and registration authorities to create such
links between individual records, thereby establishing 'through-life'
records relating to individuals. While this information would
not form part of the register available to the public, it would
be available to specified Government departments and agencies.
This ability to process data about an individual in this way
is seen as useful in preventing identity fraud.
14. Facilities to be established for electronic access
by government departments would mean that the registration service
would in time cease to issue paper birth and death certificates,
although commemorative certificates, which would not have any
legal status or be formal evidence of the events they record,
would continue to be available and the Registrar General or registration
authorities will have power to issue certified copies of register
entries for production in court or for other official purposes.
15. Except for specific information which the Order
would require to be kept private, the proposed register, to be
maintained by the Registrar General, would be a public document,
unlike the copies of information he currently holds. Under the
present law, the Registrar General and local superintendent registrars
are required to compile indexes to the registration records of
births and deaths that they keep. Any person is able to search
these indexes and obtain a full and certified copy of any given
entry, on payment of the statutory fee. There is no right to
search copies of the registers themselves (though the registers
kept by local registrars may be searched).
16. The proposal would also create new rules concerning
rights of access to the information contained in the Register.
Under the proposal, most information which is currently available
to the public would remain so. Certain information, such as details
of addresses and, in relation to death, cause of death of individuals,
would be restricted for specified periods and only available to
the person concerned, their families, those given access by them
and to specified public authorities. The records of individuals
would become fully available to the public after the elapse of
75 years in the case of birth records; death records would be
fully public after 25 years have passed since the time of death.
This would mean that some limited information that is currently
available to the public would, for a period be unavailable under
the proposal.
17. The proposal contains many detailed provisions
pursuant to these aims; there are also many consequential revocations
and amendments.
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