Statistics and Registration Service Bill

House of Commons

Session 2006 - 07
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Statistics and Registration Service Bill

Statistics and Registration Service Bill
Part 1 — The Statistics Board
29

General
62
Orders and regulations
(1)
Any power to make an order or regulations under this Part is exercisable—
(a)
in the case of an order or regulations made by the Treasury or other
Minister of the Crown, the Scottish Ministers or a Welsh ministerial
5
authority, by statutory instrument, and
(b)
in the case of an order or regulations made by a Northern Ireland
department, by statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules
(Northern Ireland) Order 1979 (SI 1979/1573 (NI 12)).
(2)
A Minister of the Crown may not make an order under section 6(1)(b) unless a
10
draft of the statutory instrument containing the order has been laid before, and
approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament.
(3)
The Treasury may not make—
(a)
an order under section 11, or
(b)
regulations under section 44, 47 or 48,
15

unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing the order or regulations
has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, each House of Parliament.
(4)
The Scottish Ministers may not make—
(a)
an order under section 6(1)(b) or 11, or
(b)
regulations under section 45 or 49,
20

unless a draft of the instrument containing the order or regulations has been
laid before, and approved by resolution of, the Scottish Parliament.
(5)
The Welsh Ministers may not make an order under section 6(1)(b) or 11 unless
a draft of the instrument containing the order has been laid before, and
approved by resolution of, the National Assembly for Wales.
25
(6)
A statutory rule containing—
(a)
an order made by a Northern Ireland department under section 6(1)(b),
(b)
an order made by the Department of Finance and Personnel for
Northern Ireland under section 11, or
(c)
regulations made by a Northern Ireland department under section 46
30
or 50,

is subject to affirmative resolution, within the meaning of section 41(4) of the
Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (1954 c. 33 (NI)).
63
Devolved statistics
(1)
In this Part “Scottish devolved statistics” means—
35
(a)
statistics which relate to matters in Scotland which are not reserved
matters, unless the statistics are produced by a person acting on behalf
of the Crown or a public authority in the exercise of functions in
relation to a reserved matter,
(b)
statistics which relate to matters in Scotland which are reserved
40
matters, where the statistics are produced by a person acting on behalf
of the Crown or a public authority in the exercise of functions in
relation to a matter which is not a reserved matter, and

Statistics and Registration Service Bill
Part 1 — The Statistics Board
30

(c)
statistics produced by the Scottish Ministers in the exercise of a function
which is exercisable by them pursuant to an Order made under section
63(1)(a) of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46).
(2)
But statistics are not Scottish devolved statistics by virtue of subsection (1)(a)
or (b) if they are produced by—
5
(a)
an authority which is a cross-border public authority within the
meaning of the Scotland Act 1998, or
(b)
an authority which is treated as a cross-border public authority for the
purposes of sections 23(2)(b) and 70(6) of that Act,

and do not relate wholly to Scotland.
10
(3)
In this Part “Welsh devolved statistics” means statistics which relate wholly or
mainly to the exercise of functions by—
(a)
a Welsh ministerial authority, or
(b)
any other public authority whose functions are exercisable only in or as
regards Wales,
15

unless the statistics are produced by a person acting on behalf of the Crown or
a public authority in the exercise of functions in relation to a matter which does
not so relate.
(4)
In this Part “Northern Ireland devolved statistics” means—
(a)
statistics which relate to matters in Northern Ireland which are
20
transferred matters, unless the statistics are produced by a person
acting on behalf of the Crown or a public authority in the exercise of
functions in relation to a matter which is not a transferred matter, and
(b)
statistics which relate to matters in Northern Ireland which are not
transferred matters, where the statistics are produced by a person
25
acting on behalf of the Crown or a public authority in the exercise of
functions in relation to matter which is a transferred matter.
64
General interpretation
In this Part—
“enactment” includes—
30
(a)
an enactment contained in, or in an instrument made under, an
Act of the Scottish Parliament;
(b)
an enactment contained in, or in an instrument made under,
Northern Ireland legislation;
“Minister of the Crown” has the same meaning as in the Ministers of the
35
Crown Act 1975 (c. 26);
“Northern Ireland devolved statistics” has the meaning given by section
63(4);
“Northern Ireland public authority” means a public authority whose
functions—
40
(a)
are exercisable only or mainly in or as regards Northern Ireland,
and
(b)
relate only or mainly to transferred matters;
“official statistics” has the meaning given by section 6(1);
“person responsible”, in relation to any official statistics, means—
45
(a)
in the case of official statistics produced by the Board, the
National Statistician,

Statistics and Registration Service Bill
Part 2 — Registration service
31

(b)
in the case of official statistics produced by a government
department, the Minister in charge of the department, and
(c)
in any other case, the person producing the statistics;
“personal information” has the meaning given by section 36(2);
“public authority” (except in section 37) means—
5
(a)
a person or body exercising functions of a public nature in the
United Kingdom,
(b)
a person or body entirely or substantially funded from public
money,
(c)
an office-holder appointed by a person or body falling within
10
paragraph (a), or
(d)
a body more than half of whose governing body or members are
appointed by a person or body falling within paragraph (a);
“reserved matters” has the same meaning as in the Scotland Act 1998
(c. 46);
15
“rights and liabilities” includes rights and liabilities relating to
employment;
“Scottish devolved statistics” has the meaning given by section 63(1) and
(2);
“Scottish public authority” has the same meaning as in the Scotland Act
20
1998;
“transferred matters” has the same meaning as in the Northern Ireland
Act 1998 (c. 47);
“Welsh devolved statistics” has the meaning given by section 63(3);
“Welsh ministerial authority” has the meaning given by section 6(5).
25
Part 2
Registration service
65
Establishment of Registrar General as corporation sole
(1)
Section 1 of the Registration Service Act 1953 (c. 37) is amended as follows—
(a)
renumber the existing provision as subsection (1);
30
(b)
after that subsection insert—
“(2)
The Registrar General is a corporation sole by the name of the
Registrar General for England and Wales.
(3)
The Registrar General may do anything (including acquire or
dispose of any property or rights) which is calculated to
35
facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the discharge of any
of his functions.
(4)
The Registrar General discharges his functions on behalf of the
Crown.
(5)
Service as Registrar General is not service in the civil service of
40
the Crown; but the Registrar General is a Crown servant for the
purposes of the Official Secrets Act 1989.”
(2)
Subject to section 54, the property, rights and liabilities of the Registrar General
on the commencement of this section shall at that time become the property,
rights and liabilities of the Registrar General as a corporation sole.
45

Statistics and Registration Service Bill
Part 2 — Registration service
32

66
Employment status of officials
(1)
On commencement of this section, every person who immediately before
commencement of this section holds a relevant office becomes an employee of
the relevant local authority.
(2)
The relevant offices are—
5
(a)
superintendent registrar of births, deaths and marriages appointed
under section 6 of the Registration Service Act 1953 (c. 37);
(b)
registrar of births and deaths appointed under that section;
(c)
deputy superintendent registrar of births, deaths and marriages
appointed under section 8 of that Act;
10
(d)
deputy registrar of births and deaths appointed under that section.
(3)
The terms and conditions of appointment of the holder of a relevant office have
effect from commencement of this section (subject to any necessary
modifications) as the terms and conditions of his employment with the
relevant local authority.
15
(4)
On commencement of this section any liabilities incurred by the holder of a
relevant office in connection with the exercise of his functions are transferred
to the relevant local authority.
(5)
Any period which ends immediately before commencement of this section
during which a person was continuously—
20
(a)
the holder of a relevant office (whether in respect of the same or
different relevant offices), or
(b)
the holder of a relevant office (whether in respect of the same or
different relevant offices) or an employee of a local authority,

must be treated as a period of continuous employment with the relevant local
25
authority.
(6)
If, immediately before commencement of this section, the holder of a relevant
office was a member of a pension scheme established in pursuance of
regulations under sections 7 and 12 of the Superannuation Act 1972 (c. 11), he
continues to be a member of the scheme by virtue of his becoming an employee
30
of the relevant local authority.
(7)
For the purposes of this section, the “relevant local authority” is—
(a)
in relation to the holder of a relevant office falling within subsection
(2)(a) or (b), the local authority by which he was appointed;
(b)
in relation to the holder of a relevant office falling within subsection
35
(2)(c) or (d), the local authority which appointed the superintendent
registrar of births, deaths and marriages or registrar of births and
deaths by whom he was appointed.
(8)
For the purposes of this section, each of the following is a local authority—
(a)
a county council in England;
40
(b)
a district council in England for an area without a county council;
(c)
a London borough council;
(d)
the Common Council of the City of London;
(e)
the Council of the Isles of Scilly;
(f)
a county or county borough council in Wales.
45