§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the future of the dead register currently maintained by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.
§ Mr. FreemanThe dead register consists of more than 80 million index cards stored by local authority area. These cards relate to people who changed address, left the country, died or changed name during the period of national registration between 1939 and 1952. The space needed for computerisation of the National Health Service central register has necessitated moving the dead register away from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys site and it is now costing nearly £50,000 per annum in storage.
The main usage is for medical research studies and currently there are very few users. The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys considers that it is unnecessary to maintain the dead register for its own core needs and has approached the Medical Research Council about the need to maintain it for medical research purposes. In the event that this is considered necessary the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys would need payment. A decision is required by the summer when the renewal of the storage contract is due.