Death Certificates (Hansard, 15 October 2002)

§ Mr. Heath
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy for the time of death to appear on death certificates. [73419]

§ Ruth Kelly
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Heath, dated 15 September 2002: As National Statistician and Registrar General, I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the time of death appearing on death certificates. (73419) Generally, it would not be possible to record the time of death on death certificates accurately. In many cases the doctor who certifies the death may not be with his patient when they die and therefore would not know the specific time of death. The relative who registers the death also may not be able to say precisely when the death occurred.
601W

§ Mr. Heath
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to require practitioners completing death certificates to include illnesses for which there is medical evidence rather than clinical suspicion. [73420]

§ Ruth Kelly
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Heath, dated 15 October 2002: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the requirements of medical practitioners completing death certificates to include illnesses for which there is medical evidence rather than clinical suspicion. (73420) Medical practitioners are required to certify the cause of death for patients under their care. Current legislation requires them to "sign the certificate in the prescribed form stating to the best of his/her knowledge and belief the cause of death". Guidance issued to doctors asks that they describe the cause of death as fully and accurately as possible. They should describe the sequence of diseases or injuries which led to the death, and other conditions which may have contributed to it. These guidance notes follow the recommendations of the World Health Organisation. There is considerable interest in death certification at present. The Fundamental Review of the Coroner Service has recently published a consultation document on possible changes to the way in which deaths should be investigated and certified. This can be found at http://www.coronersreview.org.uk/, or a paper copy requested from The Review of Coroner Services, 100 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HP. The closing date for responses is 22 November 2002. In addition, the Office for National Statistics will be consulting on modernisation of the civil registration system during 2003. Any future changes to death registration will also need to consider the recommendations that will come out of the Shipman Inquiry.

§ Lynne Jones
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many transsexual people have applied to have their birth certificates changed since the European Court of Human Rights ruling on 11 July on the case of Goodwin and Iv. UK. [73917]

§ Ruth Kelly
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Kidgell to Dr. Lynne Jones, dated 15 September 2002: The National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales has been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of transsexual people who have applied to have their birth certificates altered following the ECHR ruling in the case of Goodwin and I v. UK. I am replying in his absence. (73917) The number of applications received at the end of September is 101. This excludes 2 requests from people born in Scotland which were referred to the Registrar General for Scotland.