BIRTHS AND DEATHS REGISTRATION BILL. (Hansard, 7 December 1926)

VISCOUNT GAGE

My Lords, this is a Bill to add further to the safeguards 1283 relating to the disposal of the dead so as to reduce, as far as possible, the number of loopholes which still exist under the 1874 Act for the concealment of crime. It was introduced by a private member in the House of Commons and was taken over by the Government after it had been read a third time there. The first four clauses, which I think are self-explanatory, deal with existing Registration Acts, and by means of these clauses it is proposed to ensure that all classes of deaths are certified, and burials notified in such a way as to co-ordinate the authority for burial and the certificate of death. At present, although the law states that the registrar's certificate or the coroner's order is sufficient authority for burial, it does not always follow that either of these documents is produced, because it is still perfectly legal for a person to conduct a burial without any written authority, provided that he notifies the registrar after the ceremony. The machinery of this Bill ensures that by a system of counter-checking it will be impossible for the authorising document for burial of one individual to be used in relation to another, or for the burial of an unnotified person to be carried out without the knowledge of the registrar. It also standardises the form used in such notifications and will thus considerably facilitate the work at Somerset House.

Another class of crime which this Bill aims at circumventing is that of Infanticide. Under Clauses 5 and 7 of the Bill, evidence will be required to support the registration of a still-birth and will thus prevent the burial of children as stillborn whereas in reality their lives may have been taken shortly after birth. Under Clause 6 of the Bill medical practitioners will be required to fill up, on a standard form, particulars regarding the cause of death. At present the Registrar-General has the duty of issuing forms but medical practitioners are not obliged to use them; and it is further proposed under this Bill, that the certificates should be sent direct to the registrar, instead of being handed to the relative. It is suspected that this practice of handing the certificate to the relative has made it possible for unscrupulous individuals to use certificates for improper purposes. By Clause 9 Regulations are proposed placing restrictions on the disposal of a 1284 body by means other than burial or cremation—such as burial at sea. By this method there seems to be no safeguard at present whereby criminal practices can be prevented, with any degree of certainty.

In view of the lateness of the hour I do not consider it necessary to go very largely into further retails of the Bill although I have information if any noble Lord desires it. This Bill does, I think, make it very much more difficult than it has been in the past for criminally minded persons to conceal the cause of death or to carry out fraudulent burials. It will also provide for the compilation of more accurate medical statistics than have hitherto been possible, by making compulsory the use of the standard form. I think in its present form the Bill is practically uncontroversial, and I beg to move that it be now read a second time.