2 May 2008
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow easier and cheaper access to birth marrige and death certificates for family history researchers."
Details of Petition:
"in the 1990s allowing easier and cheaper access to birth marrige and death certificates was looked into i believe by the government and nothing happened. So can access not be allowed to these certificates on the internet say through a voucher system for say 50 pence per view. At the moment if you want one piece of information you have to spend £7 so if you had 6 possibles in a line of family history research it would cost £42! quite an expense whereas under the idea mentioned it would cost £3 Big difference, if this idea came to pass not only would it be of enormous help to family history researchers worldwide but it would generate a good deal of income for the treasury."
Read the petition
Petitions home page
Read the Government's responseThe law is very clear about how the public are able to obtain copies of certificates and also what fees should be charged. The Government understands that many family researchers don't actually want to purchase a certificate but they do want to have access to the information. The Government is also aware of the need to strike a balance between privacy and openness in the use of registration records.
In 2004 the Government tried to make a change to the law to allow the public easier and cheaper access to information but unfortunately the parliamentary committees who looked at the proposal, did not agree with the way this had been taken forward.
The Government recognises that the existing arrangements would benefit from a review and has made a commitment to change the law should parliamentary time allow.
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to allow easier and cheaper access to birth marrige and death certificates for family history researchers."
Details of Petition:
"in the 1990s allowing easier and cheaper access to birth marrige and death certificates was looked into i believe by the government and nothing happened. So can access not be allowed to these certificates on the internet say through a voucher system for say 50 pence per view. At the moment if you want one piece of information you have to spend £7 so if you had 6 possibles in a line of family history research it would cost £42! quite an expense whereas under the idea mentioned it would cost £3 Big difference, if this idea came to pass not only would it be of enormous help to family history researchers worldwide but it would generate a good deal of income for the treasury."
Read the petition
Petitions home page
Read the Government's responseThe law is very clear about how the public are able to obtain copies of certificates and also what fees should be charged. The Government understands that many family researchers don't actually want to purchase a certificate but they do want to have access to the information. The Government is also aware of the need to strike a balance between privacy and openness in the use of registration records.
In 2004 the Government tried to make a change to the law to allow the public easier and cheaper access to information but unfortunately the parliamentary committees who looked at the proposal, did not agree with the way this had been taken forward.
The Government recognises that the existing arrangements would benefit from a review and has made a commitment to change the law should parliamentary time allow.
Comment