It seems genealogists have very short memories, doesn’t anyone remember the consultation document about proposed changes to the legislation relating to the Civil Registration Service in England and Wales by means of a Regulatory Reform Order back in 2003? (the process started in 1999).
Some of the changes proposed in that document have since come or at least partially come to fruition.
Some would address what people here have been calling for.
“Link registration records relating to the same person to create ‘through life’ records.
Add other records, such as divorce or naturalisation records, to the central database to build a more complete picture of a person’s civil status.
Introduce a more straightforward system for correcting and updating registration records.
Restrict access to linking information and to original information in the case of corrections and updates.
Plan to electronically capture registration records from the last 100 years.
Make available historic records for digitisation.
Remove the restrictions for accessing historic records.
Introduce a new framework for accessing modern registration records. They would continue to be publicly available but access to some information would be restricted namely address, occupation and cause of death. It would be available to the person named in the record, their family, those given access by the individual/family and those organisations with prescribed access.
Provide access to registration records, once they are digitised, via the central database.
The use of certificates would decline over time.
Introduce a statutory framework for the sharing of registration information.
Ensure the preservation of the original registers by allowing local authorities to have responsibility for their custody probably by depositing them in record offices.
Maintain the statutory arrangements for recording and depositing records of overseas events, records of HM Forces and other miscellaneous records held by the Registrar General.
Plan to electronically capture overseas records etc. The access framework would equally apply to these records.
Extend the current arrangements for depositing foreign marriage to include all marriages involving British citizens that take place in foreign countries.”
If anybody is interested they can download the 3 PDF files here.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lh1/Some of the replies to the consultation my be seen here
http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/civilreg.htmPerhaps one of the most interesting and possibly worrying to many would be the setting up of a through life record, linking not only BMDs but other records such as divorce, census, school records even the possibility of hospital records etc. all being eventually interlinked
Cheers
Guy