§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans to improve the facilities for members of the public visiting St. Catherine's house, Kingsway, London, to consult the births, marriages and deaths registers; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. CurrieI am aware that at peak times the public search room at St. Catherine's house can become uncomfortably crowded. However, it now includes all the ground floor space available in that building and there are no immediate opportunities for further expansion: improvements to other facilities such as public telephones and the general decor are being made. The need for people to visit the search room personally is also being diminished by the sale of microfilm copies of the registration indexes to local record offices, libraries and other interested bodies, and OPCS is looking at ways in which the indexes might be made available for sale in the microfiche form which will be easier to store and handle.