Expungement of civil registration.

The request was successful.

Dear General Register Office,

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please, according to the information you have access to, please answer the following;

1. For what purpose are people required to perform civil registrations, such as the Birth of a Child, a Marriage certification, and a Death certification?
2. Provide the document of determination for how people come within the purview of civil registrations, creating public record?
3. Can people choose not to perform in civil registrations, to remain private and detached from civil society?
4. For what reason is the family name, or specifically the epithet on civil registrations capitalised?
5. Are people considered servants or slaves once they perform in civil registrations, are they then bonded to involuntary servitude and considered chattel/property of the State?
6. Provide the procedure for the expungement of civil registrations, particularly with respect to the registration of a child.

Yours faithfully,

P Newton

If your enquiry falls within the remit of a Freedom of Information request
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FOI Requests, General Register Office

Dear P Newton,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 56242). We will aim to send you a full response by 29/11/2019 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

N McKenzie
Home Office

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Dear P Newton

Thank you for your email below. Your request is being handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We will aim to send you a full response by 29 November 2019, which is twenty working days from the date when we received your request.

Yours sincerely

Her Majesty’s Passport Office

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GRO Policy,

Dear P Newton

Thank you for your enquiry of 1 November 2019 concerning civil
registration records.  We have treated your request as "official
correspondence" rather than under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act, but that has made no difference to the content of our
reply.

You asked the following questions, to which I've added our response:

 1. For what purpose are people required to perform civil registrations,
such as the Birth of a Child, a Marriage certification, and a Death
certification?

Registering life events in England and Wales are a valuable and necessary
part of today’s society. For example, certificates are essential in
establishing eligibility for a range of benefits and services.  Civil
registration also provides information on population

statistics and for vital work on medical research.  Perhaps more
significantly the information held on these events supply vital
statistical information that without it much population planning would not
be possible.

2. Provide the document of determination for how people come within the
purview of civil registrations, creating public record?

The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 is the relevant legislation
that covers the registration of births in England and Wales. Under the
provisions of this Act, all births should be registered within 42 days and
deaths within 5 days.  They are recorded in the register of the district
in which the birth or death occurred, and a copy provided for the
Registrar General.

Marriage in England and Wales is governed by the Marriage Act 1949, and
other related Acts. These Acts together with the associated Regulations
made by the Registrar General define how marriages are solemnized and
registered.

The relevant legislation is available online at [1]www.legislation.co.uk.

3. Can people choose not to perform in civil registrations, to remain
private and detached from civil society?

No, it is a legal requirement to register a birth and a death.

4. For what reason is the family name, or specifically the epithet on
civil registrations capitalised?

The use of an upper-case letter is to denote the difference between
forename(s) and the surname of the individual and recorded in a register
in upper case to identify the surname to enable effective indexing of the
record.

5. Are people considered servants or slaves once they perform in civil
registrations, are they then bonded to involuntary servitude and
considered chattel/property of the State?

The registration of a life event simply records the details relating to a
birth, marriage or death which has taken place, it does not create a
“bond”, “servants” or “slaves”.

6. Provide the procedure for the expungement of civil registrations,
particularly with respect to the registration of a child.

There is no provision within legislation to expunge civil registration
records.

A birth record contains the information as provided at the time of
registration and is not a through-life record for the recording of changes
to names or addresses etc.

I hope this information is useful.

Yours sincerely

Louise Rawson

Policy Team

Civil Registration Directorate

Her Majesty's Passport Office, General Register Office

Room 01, Smedley Hydro, Trafalgar Road, Southport, PR8 2HH

References

Visible links
1. http://www.legislation.co.uk/