just received a news letter from lost cousins

[Gwen@coggiecorner]

lots of news But I picked this out has anyone heard about this yet?

BMD project collapses For several years the General Register Office has been working on a major project to digitise birth, marriage, and death records - and this could have provided England & Wales with an equivalent to the online registers at Scotlandspeople .


The controversial closure of the Family Records Centre in Islington was partly justified by these forthcoming changes - but now the private contractor responsible for implementation has withdrawn "by mutual consent", and it isn't clear when, or if, the project will re-start.


My personal opinion is that, with the GRO now part of the Identity and Passport Service, the interests of genealogists are going to come well down in the list of priorities.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Yes, Gwen, in fact Nell and I are both in deep mourning over this.

It is an absolutely scandalous waste of public money and is bumbling inefficiency at its worst. Yet no one seems to have got a smack for it, millions of £££ completely wasted and quietly brushed under the carpet. It makes me absolutely furious.

OC

[Gwen@coggiecorner]

I am gutted do we know what is going to happen surely someone must take on the project.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Gwen

I expect the truth of it is that the money has either run out completely, or GB has seen a bit of dosh to be saved.

I knew there were problems with this about three years ago when someone leaked the info that it was proving very difficult to digitise the images as the hand held scanners couldnt properly cope with the curve in the pages of some of the very old books.

Also, the original stated intention of this project was to have downloadable certs on line, like Scotlands People. Then someone discovered that English law does not allow for publication of certificates so they quietly dropped that bit.

It is a shambles. Perhaps they should have asked Scotland's People how to do it BEFORE they announced they were going to!

OC (mad as a wet hen over this)

[Pippa Doll]

Perhaps you could apply to the government to take it on? However if they know that FreeBMD is doing a lot of this work I would have thought that they would have let them get on with it.

[Gwen@coggiecorner]

I think we should all protest!!!

[Little Nell]

Oh dear, I thought I'd got over this and now this post has opened up the wounds again. OC pass us a tissue!

[KiteRunner]

Pippa, FreeBMD is working from the old indexes but the GRO project was supposed to be to make a brand new index working from the certificates themselves to get rid of all the mistakes that the old indexes have. I would think that making a new index from the certs would be too big a job for FreeBMD, to be honest. Working from the indexes, if there is something you can't read then you can usually figure out what it should say because there is so much redundant information (for instance, because of the fact that it is in alphabetical order) but I would think that a lot more checking would be needed to make sure that names were transcribed correctly from the certificates.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I have just sent my MP an email, asking him to find out

How much this project cost.
Why it has been abandoned.
Who was responsible for the project and why were the problems not foreseen in the planning stage.
Whether anyone responsible for this half-baked project has been embarrassed enough to resign.

OC

[Kit]

Good idea OC. Please let us know what the answer is.

Wonder if Scotlands people could take it on?

[BC]

Embarrassed enough to resign !!! Tut,Tut, OC - you are confusing the old ' Honour among thieves ' with the present-day Government and their Civil ' Service ' . Totally incompatible

[Little Nell]

Keep us posted OC, but I expect you will get the usual fob-off.

As for the indexes, my sister-in-law surname Pearce was married in 1991 and she is in the index as Searce!

I don't think they have quality control in the GRO - but now its all part of the Passport & Identity Whatsit I think the focus will be on fraud and not on genealogy at all.

[holcan]

I have also just sent an E-Mail to my MP protesting about the collapse and waste of money. Will let you know if a positive response comes.

[Uncle John]

Anyone care to pm me the text of a suitable email? I have a choice of local MPS (Lab and Con) and could email both.

[Elizabeth Herts]

My question is "What is happening about the work already completed"?

Is it just going to be discarded, or will someone be able to make it available to the general public?

I know very little about the project, or how far it got, but surely something can be salvaged from it.

*now awating information from better-informed people!*

[holcan]

I have had a reply from My MP regarding the projects that have been aborted.
It is a copy of a letter from David Buckley the DEPUTY REGISTRAR GENERAL.
If people are interested in seeing it I will copy it on site.
How do I uplift a file to this page??

[Olde Crone Holden]

Forgot about this, sorry folks!

Yes, I had a reply, which said the project has NOT been aborted. Discussions are taking place with suitable applicants for the project but there will be "an inevitable delay".

My question about the general c*ck-up of the whole project was neatly sidestepped.

Don't hold your breath.

OC

[Janet]

August Ancestors Magazine announced that Siemens were pulling out of the Dove Project and an urgent review of the whole project is now underway. Further details can be obtained on the present dilemma from the Federation of Family History Societies at:

https://www.ffhs.org.uk/news/news090703.php

The problem seems to be that now that the GRO has transferred from ONS to the Identity and passport Services that the main concern will be that the IPS will not be so enthusiastic about publishing the information online and will argue for confidentiality over the free availability of the BMD.

However my understanding is that the IPS and the GRO remain committed to delivering the project of digitising the BMD.

Janet

[Janet]

There is also another worry to be thinking about! Findmypast was bought by Scotland Online earler this year and Scotland Online have the contract for the 1911 Census. However, Scotland Online have decided to rebrand themselves as "Brightsolid" which is part owned by DC Thompson who is better known in the UK as the publishers of the "Beano" and the "Dandy"!!!

What message is that sending out??

Janet

[KiteRunner]

I understand why they would want to change their name if they are branching out to include England and Wales, not just Scotland, but what on earth "Brightsolid" means, I have no idea!