HC Deb 03 February 1971 vol 810 cc408-10W
Mr. Faulds

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will withdraw the rule, operative at Somerset House, that no information is to be given from the registers except by means of a certificate, such certificates costing 8s., in view of the fact that researchers into ancestral records frequently have to peruse a considerable number of entries.

Mr. Alison

The Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1953, specifies the method by which information from the registers may be obtained. The rule that no information must be given except by means of a certificate has been modified to some extent. A person making a search in the indexes who finds several references, any of which might relate to the entry he seeks, can have any such reference verified on payment, at present, of 2s., when he will be given sufficient information to enable him to decide whether the entry is the one he needs.

Mr. Faulds

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will change the present arrangements at Somerset House, whereby the time of the officials is occupied by looking up and copying out information on to certificates which cost 8s. per item, and which can be picked up in person in 48 hours or sent by post, to a system whereby the officials may show the public how to find the information, leaving them to copy it out for themselves at no charge.

Mr. Alison

It would not be practicable to have the public inspecting the records in the vaults at Somerset House and copying out the information they need. To avoid loss or damage to the records it would be necessary to provide a reading room where specified volumes could be made available for inspection under proper supervision. It is hoped to make the early volumes accessible in this way in a few years' time but at present there is neither staff nor accommodation available for it. Certified copies are now largely prepared by photographic methods and it is proposed to reduce further the manpower involved in preparation of certificates by microfilming the records, thus making possible increased use of mechanical methods of retrieval and copying.