Registers and specimen certificates
Dear General Register Office (GRO),
Please list all of the registers which are maintained the GRO; examples include Gender Recognition Register, Live-Births Register, Marriage Register, Abandoned Children Register, etc.
Please provide a specimen certificate for each register; including "short" and "long" form where applicable.
Please also provide details including costs on how to obtain a certified copy of an extract from each register; including "short" and "long" versions.
Yours faithfully,
L-M Nelson (Miss)
If your enquiry falls within the remit of a Freedom of Information request
Her Majesty’s Passport Office will send you an acknowledgement within the
next 2 working days.
If your enquiry does not fall within the Freedom of Information remit this
will not be forwarded or responded to. Therefore please contact the
appropriate department listed below:
• For a passport enquiry or complaint, please complete an online enquiry
form
• If your enquiry or complaint relates to a certificate which you have
ordered from the General Registrar’s Office, please complete the
certificate service order enquiries form.
• If your request is for information relating to your data held by Her
Majesty’s Passport Office or an individual it falls under the terms of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and may qualify as a Subject Access Request,
please email [email address]
• If your enquiry relates to nationality you should forward your enquiry
to the UK Visas and Immigration enquiry team who are better placed to
respond, please email [email address]
Dear Miss Nelson
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 9 June 2020, which is twenty working days from the date when we received your request.
Due to the measures introduced in response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which include social distancing and protecting vulnerable people, our responses to Freedom of Information requests will take longer than usual.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience at this difficult time.
Yours sincerely
Her Majesty’s Passport Office
Dear Miss Nelson
Further to our email below, please find attached our response to your information request.
Yours sincerely
Her Majesty’s Passport Office
Dear FOI,
I am formally requesting an internal review of your refusal to provide specimen certificates as requested in this Freedom of Information request. There is a claim of public interest exemption in withholding the information as per 31(1) (a) and (e) of the FOI Act 2000. The main reason being it "could provide potential fraudsters with information on the security features of the certificates"
However, this goes against the publication of the security features of passports titled "Introducing the new UK passport design" and can be seen here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
The Passport Office has additionally published a document containing specimen certificates regarding the tracing of one's family history titled "Discover your Family History" in which specimen certificates are included in the document and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
The Home Office has also published sample certificates in the document titled "Right to Rent Document Checks: a User Guide" and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
Finally, the Home Office has published a document detailing the security features of UK residence permits titled "Guidance notes Biometric residence permits (BRPs): General information for in-country applicants, their employers and sponsors" and can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
Under the reasoning given for withholding specimen certificates pursuant to this FOI request, the Passport Office and its parent department the Home Office should not have published the documents as linked above. The fact these were published is inconsistent with the given fraud prevention reasoning restricting the release of information under this FOI request.
I look forward to receiving a prompt reply to this internal review request and receiving the specimen certificates.
Yours sincerely,
L-M Nelson (miss)
If your enquiry falls within the remit of a Freedom of Information request
Her Majesty’s Passport Office will send you an acknowledgement within the
next 2 working days.
If your enquiry does not fall within the Freedom of Information remit this
will not be forwarded or responded to. Therefore please contact the
appropriate department listed below:
• For a passport enquiry or complaint, please complete an online enquiry
form
• If your enquiry or complaint relates to a certificate which you have
ordered from the General Registrar’s Office, please complete the
certificate service order enquiries form.
• If your request is for information relating to your data held by Her
Majesty’s Passport Office or an individual it falls under the terms of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and may qualify as a Subject Access Request,
please email [email address]
• If your enquiry relates to nationality you should forward your enquiry
to the UK Visas and Immigration enquiry team who are better placed to
respond, please email [email address]
Dear General Register Office,
I am writing to know if you have accepted my internal review request. Reference: FOICR 58711/20.
A link to the request is https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Yours faithfully,
L-M Nelson (Miss)
If your enquiry falls within the remit of a Freedom of Information request
Her Majesty’s Passport Office will send you an acknowledgement within the
next 2 working days.
If your enquiry does not fall within the Freedom of Information remit this
will not be forwarded or responded to. Therefore please contact the
appropriate department listed below:
• For a passport enquiry or complaint, please complete an online enquiry
form
• If your enquiry or complaint relates to a certificate which you have
ordered from the General Registrar’s Office, please complete the
certificate service order enquiries form.
• If your request is for information relating to your data held by Her
Majesty’s Passport Office or an individual it falls under the terms of the
Data Protection Act 1998 and may qualify as a Subject Access Request,
please email [email address]
• If your enquiry relates to nationality you should forward your enquiry
to the UK Visas and Immigration enquiry team who are better placed to
respond, please email [email address]
Miss L-M Nelson,
Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request for an Internal Review of FoI case ref 58711 and apologies for the delay in responding to you.
I can confirm this has been assigned to a caseworker and we will aim to send you a full response by 25/06/2020 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,
P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office
Dear FOI Requests,
I am writing regarding the Internal Review of FoI case ref 58711. The date by which you aimed to get a response to myself, of 25 June 2020, has now passed.
Please provide a full response to this matter as soon as possible. Failure to do so will result in a referral to the Information Commissioner.
I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,
L-M Nelson (Miss)
We will endeavour to respond to your FoI request within 20 working days as
required under Freedom of Information Act 2000
Dear Miss L-M Nelson,,
Thank you for contacting the Home Office. I have forward your email to the business area dealing with your internal review request for their attention.
Regards,
N McKenzie
Home Office
Dear L-M Nelson,
Thank you for contacting the Home Office. Your request for an internal review has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 58711). We will aim to send you a full response by 24/07/2020 which is 40 working days from the date your request was recieved.
Regards,
N McKenzie
Home Office
Dear FOI Requests,
I am writing regarding the now passed deadline for my internal review of case ref 58711. I have yet to receive a response to my request for an internal review.
If no response is provided and no satisfactory reason given for missing this second deadline to reply, then a referral to the information commissioner shall be made no later than 3 August 2020.
Yours sincerely,
L-M Nelson (Miss)
We will endeavour to respond to your FoI request within 20 working days as
required under Freedom of Information Act 2000
Dear L-M Nelson,
Thank you for contacting the Home Office. I have forward your email to the case officer dealing with your internal review case for their attention.
Regards,
N McKenzie
Home Office
Dear Ms Nelson
Please find attached the response to your request for an internal review
ref: 58711.
We apologise for the delay in sending you a response.
Kind regards
Information Rights Team
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Dear Ms Nelson
Please find attached the response to your request for an internal review
ref: 58711.
We apologise for the delay in sending you a response.
Kind regards
Information Rights Team
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
Richard Taylor left an annotation ()
A decision notice from the Information Commissioner which appears to relate to this request has been published at:
https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
The decision states:
"The Commissioner requires the Home Office to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
•Disclose the electronic specimen certificates. The complainant has confirmed she requires copies of all long and short certificates, but not bilingual or certificates relating to translations.The disclosure should be made to the ‘What Do They Know’ webpage through which the request was made"
Dear Ms Nelson
Please see the attached letter and accompanying documents.
Sincerely
Adrian Brook
Information Rights Team
Knowledge and Information Management Unit
Home Office | Lower Ground Floor | Seacole Building | 2 Marsham Street |
London SW1P 4DF
Dear FOI Requests,
Thank you for providing the 71 certificates that you have done. The information received from the ICO states that there are 113 specimen certificates held by you. Can you please account for this large difference between the number received and the number held by you?
I note I have only received certificates relating to Births, Marriages, Deaths, Civil Partnerships and Still-Births. I note that there are numerous other registers maintained by you which include: Adoption, Presumed Death, Abandoned Children, Parental Order, Gender Recognition, Gender Recognition Marriage or Civil Partnership, etc. This list is not designed to be exhaustive.
Can you please furnish me with the outstanding specimen certificates from the registers where specimen certificates have not been received?
As a matter of courtesy, a copy of this will also be sent to the Information Commissioner.
Yours sincerely,
L-M Nelson (Miss)
Thank you for contacting the Home Office Freedom of Information Requests
Mailbox.
This is to acknowledge receipt of your email.
Dear Ms Nelson
Thank you for your email of 14 June.
We have checked the position with GRO and I am able to provide an
additional 31 certificates 72-102 in the attached folder. I apologise
that these were not included with our earlier email. All the certificates
are stored on a database, but with everyone involved working from home
there have been issues with access to the database, being able to view
documents and synchronisation.
Please note that Specimen Examples 1 sent to you last week has two
certificates, Specimen Examples 2 has two certificates, Specimen Examples
3 has two certificates and Specimen Examples 4 has three certificates.
This gives a total of 102 + 5 = 107. We are pursuing further with GRO why
this still falls short of the 113 originally referred and whether this
original figure was correct.
I am copying this email to the ICO.
Regards
Adrian
Adrian Brook
Information Rights Team
Knowledge and Information Management Unit
Home Office | Lower Ground Floor | Seacole Building | 2 Marsham Street |
London SW1P 4DF
Ms. S left an annotation ()
You might find this link useful
https://securityfoiling.co.uk/birth-cert...
Ms. S left an annotation ()
Just read the response from the ICO, very interesting! As far the electronic versions of the specimen certificates, the computer layout can be found https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationa...
Annex C
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L-M Nelson left an annotation ()
This request has been referred to the Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioner is currently conducting an investigation.