This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New Book of Scottish Connections
02/01/2005
A new Book of Scottish Connections will allow people
across the world to celebrate their Scottish roots, it was
announced today.
It offers the opportunity for the millions of people in
all corners of the globe to have recorded in Scotland a
birth, death or marriage that takes place outwith
Scotland.
The book will be held by the General Register Office for
Scotland in Edinburgh.
Deputy Public Service Reform Minster Tavish Scott
welcomed proposals published today to make registering
births, deaths and marriages in Scotland easier and more
accessible.
The draft Registration Services (Scotland) Bill
consultation paper was published by Registrar General for
Scotland Duncan Macniven as the registration system in
Scotland celebrates its 150th birthday. It sets out the
necessary draft legislation and proposes a number of
changes to the civil registration system. Mr Macniven
said:
"The changes we are proposing to the registration of
births, deaths and marriages are ground breaking
modernisation of a much-loved system, and will make it more
flexible and more accessible for people across
Scotland."
Among other changes, the draft legislation would:
* set up a Book of Scottish Connections in which people
throughout the world with a Scottish connection could
arrange for a birth, death or marriage to be recorded.
* allow births and deaths to be registered anywhere in
Scotland, not just at the place at which the event
occurred.
* increase choice for couples who wish to marry at sea,
by establishing a new registration district comprising all
territorial waters around Scotland.
* advertise forthcoming marriages on an all-Scotland
website as well as local registration office notice
boards.
The draft Bill also proposes on-line registration. Many
people welcome the opportunity for a face-to-face
discussion with their registrar about a birth or a death,
and that option will continue - but electronic registration
would give people the choice of calling in person at the
registration office or registering the event through their
home computer.
That new option would only be made available once
security needs were satisfied to avoid fraudulent
registrations.
Mr Scott added:
"This Bill has great potential especially the Book of
Scottish Connections which will allow anyone with Scottish
roots to register an event which happens overseas. This
will be an exciting opportunity for ex-pats, those with
Scottish connections and others wanting to keep family
records in Scotland up-to-date.
"The present system of registration in Scotland is
exactly 150 years old. This draft Bill makes sure that it
still fits the needs of tomorrow's Scotland. "
The consultation on the draft legislation will close at
March 31.
The draft Bill is based on proposals in the October 2000
consultation paper "Civil Registration in the 21st
Century". Responses to that consultation paper were
published by the Registrar General in November 2001 and can
be found at
www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2001/11/SE4277.aspx.
Some of the proposals have already been taken forward
within the present legislative framework or through
secondary legislation. But the majority require primary
legislation in the Scottish Parliament.
Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages was
introduced in Scotland exactly 150 years ago, on 1 January
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
1965. Arrangements for marriage preliminaries and the
solemnisation of civil marriages are governed by the
Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 as amended by the Marriage
(Scotland) Act 2002.
The registration service in Scotland is a partnership
between the General Register Office for Scotland and the 32
local authorities. At present there are 231 registration
districts in Scotland.