§ Mr. Eyreasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps will be taken to tighten procedures relating to the availability of death certificates to prevent abuse in connection with fraudulent applications for passports.
§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will review the procedures for issuing copies of birth certificates in order to eliminate the possibility of fraudulent application for a copy of the birth certificate of a dead person; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Tierneyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take action to prevent dead people's birth certificates being used for illegal purposes.
§ Mr. Moyle, pursuant to his replies [Official Report, 21st April 1978; Vol. 605W 948, c. 402, and 14th April 1978], gave the following information:
Under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 any member of the public has the right to search the indexes to the records of births and deaths and to have a certified copy of any entry in those records on payment of the prescribed fee. The law neither requires the person to state his reason for wishing to have a certificate nor authorises the Registrar General or a local superintendent registrar to refuse to supply it. The issue of a birth certificate cannot be restricted to the person whose name is entered on it, nor can the issue of either a birth or death certificate be limited to members of the family concerned.
The Registrar General has no evidence of any widespread abuse of these provisions and there is no intention at present to seek amendment of the daw.
To take away the right of members of the public to have a certified copy of any entry in which they may have an interest would cause serious inconvenience to people who need such certificates for a variety of legitimate purposes. To compel every applicant to show cause for requiring a certificate would also inconvenience the public, and if all applications had to be investigated on that basis this would involve very substantial increases in stall both centrally and locally.
If a person who obtains a certificate decides to use it for illegal purposes any offence committed is a matter for the police or other body concerned with the particular offence.