Civil Registration Modernisation Programme
June 2001
With reference to the Consultation Document, Bringing Civil Registration into the 21st Century.
Comhairle very much welcomes the Modernisation of the Civil Registration initiative. The implementation plan set out in the Consultation Document appears to deal satisfactorily with the main aspects of registration and to include the key components of an effective and efficient system. The new system should provide for more streamlined access to information and services. In this regard efficiency, confidentiality from the perspective of the citizen and ease of access for the user should be the key determining factors.
It is likely that Citizens Information Centres (CICs) could make a very valuable contribution to promoting public awareness about registration. There are currently some 85 CICs throughout the country which are supported by Comhairle and which deal with over 300,000 queries annually from members of the public. Comhairle would be happy to liaise with the Civil Registration Service in examining ways in which CICs might become more actively engaged in a public awareness programme.
There are a number of aspects of the registration system which Comhairle wishes to draw attention to, as follows:
- The issue of citizen privacy is of utmost importance and needs to be adequately provided for in the new system. The key principle which should underpin the system is that registration records are fundamentally the property of the citizen. Appropriate protection needs to be built into the system to ensure that the citizen has some control over his/her personal information. In this regard it is necessary to control public access to records. Public access to information for statistical and historical purposes should be of a different order to that available to an individual in respect of his/her own personal records. The cut off point of 100 years in respect of records being classed ‘historic', referred to in 4.5 of the Consultation Document, seems reasonable. Access to records for statistical and research purposes should be provided for on the basis of anonymity as, for example, in the case of Census Data.
- The new registration system should provide for much easier access for people to copies of certificates. In this regard there should be provision for people applying for social welfare payments to give permission (e.g., in the form of an access code – see Point (iv) below) to public officials to directly access copies of whatever certificates are required to support their application.
- Citizens Information Centres (CICs) regularly draw attention to situations where people have to get multiple copies of birth certificates in order to claim benefits and access services. This is particularly problematic at present for people who were born in a county other than the one in which they currently reside. The new system should ensure that people (e.g. older people) do not have to supply multiple copies of certificates in order to obtain the range of benefits and services to which they are entitled.
- A key element of the new system should be that information and copies of certificates are available locally and can be accessed at short notice. An individual should be able to log into his/her own personal records by using a personal identification code.
- Citizen Information Centres (CICs) in some parts of the country report long delays in obtaining a copy of a death certificate in respect of deaths requiring an inquest. This has obvious implications in relation to claiming social welfare payments and life assurance claims.
- The new civil registration system should act as a triggering mechanism for accessing statutory services and entitlements. For example, all persons at age 66 years and age 70 years could be automatically contacted by the Department in relation to their likely entitlements at that age.
