Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006

Other provisions about information held by Registrar General

56 Provision of registration information to public bodies and office-holders

(1) The Registrar General may provide any information contained in a register mentioned in subsection (2) to any public body or office-holder (in Scotland, in any other part of the United Kingdom or in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom).

(2) Those registers are—

(a) a register of births, still-births, deaths or marriages transmitted to the Registrar General under the 1965 Act or any enactment repealed by that Act;

(b) a Register of Corrections Etc. or a civil partnership register transmitted to the Registrar General under the 1965 Act;

(c) the Register of Divorces;

(d) the Register of Dissolutions of Civil Partnership.

(3) The Registrar General may charge for the provision of information under this section.

57 Keeping of central register for health and local authority purposes

(1) The Registrar General may, for the purposes of facilitating the carrying out of the functions of Health Boards, the Common Services Agency and local authorities, create and maintain, using the information mentioned in subsection (2), a register of individuals.

(2) That information is—

(a) information contained in—

(i) the registers of births and deaths transmitted to the Registrar General under the 1965 Act;

(ii) the Adopted Children Register;

(b) such information as the Registrar General may direct a Health Board or the Common Services Agency to provide for the purposes of the creation and maintenance of the register referred to in subsection (1);

(c) information contained in a register of births, deaths or adoptions held by the Registrar General for England and Wales;

(d) information contained in a register held by a Minister of the Crown or a government department which is a register of individuals which exists for the same purpose as, or a similar purpose to, a register created under subsection (1);

(e) information contained in a register held by the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency for the Health and Social Services which is a register of individuals which exists for the same purpose as, or a similar purpose to, a register created under subsection (1);

(f) such other information held by such persons, or persons within such descriptions, or contained in such places as may be prescribed.

(3) An entry in a register created under subsection (1) may contain only the following information—

(a) the person’s name and surname and any previous names or surnames;

(b) the person’s sex;

(c) the person’s date of birth;

(d) a reference code indicating the Health Board which made the arrangements in consequence of which the person is presently provided with primary medical services (that expression being construed in accordance with the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (c. 29));

(e) a reference code indicating any Health Board which made arrangements in consequence of which the person was previously provided with such services;

(f) a reference code indicating any body having, or having had, for an area in England or Wales, functions the same as, or similar to, those of a Health Board, in whose area is, or was, situated—

(i) any general medical practitioner practice with which the person was previously registered; or

(ii) the premises whose address was recorded for the purposes of such a registration as being the person’s home address;

(g) a reference code indicating that the person was previously registered with a general medical practitioner practice in Northern Ireland;

(h) such reference numbers relating uniquely to the person as the Registrar General may determine; and

(i) such other information about the person as may be prescribed.

(4) The Registrar General may provide to Health Boards, the Common Services Agency, local authorities or such persons, or persons within such descriptions, as may be prescribed such information from a register created under subsection (1) as may, in accordance with regulations under subsection (6), be provided.

(5) The purposes for which information may be provided under subsection (4) are not limited to those referred to in subsection (1).

(6) The information which may be, or must not be, provided under subsection (4) to such recipients as are prescribed in relation to that information must be prescribed.

(7) In subsection (6), references to information include references to information of prescribed kinds, and the reference to recipients includes a reference to recipients of prescribed descriptions.

(8) This section does not prejudice section 1(3) of the 1965 Act or section 56 of this Act.

58 Issuing of other material kept or held by Registrar General

(1) In this section, “the accessible material” means such of, or such parts of, the relevant material as the Registrar General may determine.

(2) In subsection (1), “the relevant material” means the documents kept or held by the Registrar General (whether by virtue of an enactment or otherwise) other than––

(a) a register of births, still-births, deaths or marriages transmitted to the Registrar General under the 1965 Act or any enactment repealed by that Act;

(b) a civil partnership register transmitted to the Registrar General under the 1965 Act;

(c) the Register of Divorces;

(d) the Register of Dissolutions of Civil Partnership;

(e) a parochial register;

(f) the Register of Corrections Etc.;

(g) the BSC;

(h) a register created under section 57(1);

(i) a document containing census information which is personal census information (“census information” and “personal census information” having the meanings given to those expressions by section 8(7) of the Census Act 1920 (c. 41));

(j) a document containing information obtained by virtue of the Population Statistics Act 1938 (c. 12);

(k) the Adopted Children Register or a register or book kept under section 45(4) of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 (c. 28);

(l) the Gender Recognition Register.

(3) The Registrar General is to prepare and maintain an index of the accessible material.

(4) Subsection (3) does not prejudice any other power or duty of the Registrar General to prepare an index of any of the relevant material.

(5) Where a person pays such fee as may be prescribed, the Registrar General is, if the General Register Office is open for the purpose, to—

(a) search the index maintained under subsection (3) (or permit the person to do so); and

(b) issue to the person a copy or extract of any of the material so indexed.

(6) The Registrar General is to make arrangements for the district registrar for each registration district to have access to—

(a) a copy of such of, or such parts of, the accessible material as may be prescribed; and

(b) an index of that material.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6)—

(a) a copy is to be made by such means as the Registrar General may determine; and

(b) different arrangements and determinations may be made in respect of different registration districts.

(8) Where a person pays such fee as may be prescribed, the district registrar for a registration district is, if the part of the registration office concerned is open for the purpose, to—

(a) search (or permit the person to search) the index to which the registrar has access by virtue of subsection (6)(b); and

(b) issue to the person a copy of any of the material so indexed.