This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Civil registration shake-up
05/11/2001
Plans to improve the system of civil registration of
births, deaths and marriages in Scotland to meet the needs
of citizens in the 21
st century were outlined today by the Registrar
General for Scotland.
The proposals, which build on the extensive consultation
by the Registrar General carried out between October 2000
and March 2001, would allow for:
- People throughout the world with a Scottish
connection to be able to arrange that a birth, death or
marriage be recorded at the General Register Office in
Edinburgh. This would allow their life events to be
included as part of their family-history records in
Scotland.
- The development by local authorities of
family-history search centres. This would enable
searching of Scottish family records to be done locally
as well as at GROS in Edinburgh.
- The registration of a birth or death of a person to
be carried out anywhere in Scotland, not just the place
at which the event occurred. This improves convenience
for the citizen.
- Notification of births, deaths and marriages to
central and local government departments and third
parties. This could avoid the need for people to buy
certificates to give or show to government departments,
banks, insurance companies etc.
- Ceremonies to mark key events in life such as
baby-naming, silver-weddings, or renewals of marriage
vows. These could provide a focus for
family-gatherings.
- Changes to marriage preliminaries, such as placing
public notices of forthcoming marriages on a central
GROS list and possibly the GROS website as well as
local registration office noticeboards.
- The issue of an abbreviated form of death
certificate which would not show cause of death. This
could be used in sensitive circumstances when there is
no need for the recipient to know the cause of death. A
full death certificate would still be available for
showing to insurance companies etc.
Register General for Scotland Mr John Randall said:
"I am delighted to announce these groundbreaking changes
in civil registration in Scotland. It is vital we recognise
the varied needs of Scottish citizens and make it more
simple and more convenient.
"Many Scots live outside Scotland but still wish to have
their life events included as part of their family-history
records in Scotland. Today's announcement will make
registration more flexible to meet the needs of people in
the 21
st Century."
The proposals were today announced in the Scottish
Parliament by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for
Justice, Jim Wallace MSP.
In October 2000, the Registrar General published the
consultation paper Civil Registration in the 21st Century.
A copy of the paper is available on the Internet at the
site
www.gro-scotland.gov.uk Click on the "What's New" button.
Responses to the consultation were requested by
28 February 2001. 54 responses were received. In addition,
a seminar for Registrars from around Scotland was held on
20 March 2001 to enable their views to be considered.
The consultation paper
Civil Registration in the 21
st Century sought views on some 22 issues.
The changes that were proposed fall into 3 categories:
- those that can be implemented within the present
legislative framework;
- those for which secondary legislation would be
required in the Scottish Parliament; and
- those for which primary legislation would be
required in the Scottish Parliament.
The Annex to this news release lists the proposals that
are to be implemented. The Registrar General for Scotland
intends to implement the first 3 proposals in time for the
new registration year, which begins on 1 January 2002. The
4
th proposal may require modifications to local
registration software. If so, then this might need to be
introduced in January 2003. Legislation to give effect to
the remaining proposals will be introduced when a suitable
opportunity arises.
Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages was
introduced in Scotland in 1855. The framework for the
registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland is
currently set by the Registration of Births, Deaths and
Marriages (Scotland) Act of 1965. Arrangements for marriage
preliminaries and the solemnisation of civil marriages are
governed by the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. The
registration service in Scotland is a partnership between
the General Registrar Office for Scotland and the 32 local
authorities. At present there are more than 300
registration districts in Scotland. The consultation paper
considered matters relating to civil registration. It did
not canvas views on more fundamental matters of family law.
The Scottish Executive's proposals to extend the venues
available for civil marriages in Scotland are being taken
forward separately in the Marriage (Scotland) Bill
2001.
ANNEX
CIVIL REGISTRATION IN THE 21
ST CENTURY
SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS TO BE
IMPLEMENTED
CHANGES WHICH WOULD REQUIRE A CHANGE IN ADMINISTRATIVE
PRACTICE RATHER THAN A CHANGE IN THE LAW
1. Encourage local authorities to phase
out 'parlour registrar' posts when the present postholders
retire or resign, except where a special case can be made
for retention, such as on a remote island.
2. Encourage local authorities to provide
revenue-earning local and family-history
search-centres.
3. Redraw at 75 years for marriages and 50
years for deaths the line between 'historical' and 'recent'
records, drawn for the purpose of making the earlier
indexes and register entries visible on the Internet.
CHANGES FOR WHICH IT WOULD BE NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE TO
SECURE SECONDARY LEGISLATION
(A STATUTORY INSTRUMENT)
4. Bring forward changes to require
certain additional information to be given when registering
a birth, death or marriage. For instance, recording the
date of birth of parents when registering a birth of their
child could facilitate family history searches at a later
date.
CHANGES FOR WHICH IT WOULD BE NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE TO
SECURE PRIMARY LEGISLATION
5. Scottish Certificates Of No Impediment
to be issued only by the GROS in Edinburgh.
6. Amend statute to make all
registration-district boundaries the same as those of local
authorities.
7. Amend statute to allow for different
premises forming part of the one registration office to
have different opening hours.
8. Allow the birth of a child occurring
anywhere in Scotland to be registered at any registration
office in Scotland.
9. Allow the death of a person occurring
anywhere in Scotland to be registered at any registration
office in Scotland.
10. Retain the existing requirement for
advertising marriages on a local registration-office notice
board but, in addition, augment it with a list of all
forthcoming marriages in Scotland, to be held centrally by
GROS and be available to potential objectors and possibly
available to the public on the GROS website.
11. Local authorities to be enabled to
provide through their registrars ceremonies analogous to
civil marriage but marking other life events. Local
authorities would be expected to ensure the availability of
baby-naming and marriage re-affirmation ceremonies. Other
ceremonies, such as civil funerals, would be
discretionary.
12. Supply automatically and
electronically (for an appropriate charge) birth, death and
marriage details already visible publicly on the registers
to all other relevant government bodies, central and
local.
13. Allow informants (for a fee) to be
able to ask for wider notification of births, deaths or
marriages to nominated bodies outside the government
sector.
14. Enable third parties (for a fee) to
ask GROS to notify them of the death of a person if and
when it occurs in Scotland.
15. Allow for the issue of an abbreviated
certificate of death, excluding cause-of-death information,
if requested.
16. Once a no-longer-current register
entry is available from GROS as on-line image, to allow
local registrars to issue an authenticated formal extract
on security paper (as distinct from an informal
'information' copy of the imaged entry).
17. GROS to supply a change-of-name
service at an earlier stage, with widespread
notifications.
18. Allow persons with Scots connections
to record in Scotland's registers births, deaths and
marriages already properly registered in other countries
including England.