Registration Service Act 1953

Miscellaneous and general

19 Annual abstract

The Registrar General shall send to the Minister annually, in such form as the Minister may from time to time require, a general abstract of the number of live-births, still-births, deaths and marriages registered in the year last preceding and the Minister shall within one month after receipt thereof or of the meeting of Parliament lay that abstract before each House of Parliament.

20 Regulations

The Registrar General with the approval of the Minister may by statutory instrument make regulations—

(a) prescribing the duties of superintendent registrars, registrars of births and deaths and registrars of marriages in the execution of any enactment relating to their functions;

(b) prescribing the duties under the Registration Acts of clerks of county councils, town clerks of county boroughs, and such other officers as may be appointed in pursuance of any local scheme;

(c) making provision as to the place and manner in which, the days on which and the hours during which any documents kept in the General Register Office and required to be available for search by the public are to be so available;

(d) prescribing anything which by this Act is required to be prescribed.

21 Interpretation

(1) In this Act, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively—

• " local scheme " means the scheme or schemes made under section fourteen of this Act for the time being in force for the county or county borough in question;

• " the Minister " means the Minister of Health;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made under the last foregoing section;

• " the Registration Acts " means this Act, the Marriage Act, 1949, and the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1953.

(2) In the application of this Act to London—

(a) any reference to a county or the council of a county shall not include a reference to the County of London or the council thereof;

(b) any reference to a county borough or the council of a county borough shall include a reference to the City of London or the Common Council thereof and to a metropolitan borough or the council thereof.

(3) Except in so far as the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to any other enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by or under any other enactment, including this Act.

22 Savings

(1) Any appointment made under any enactment repealed by this Act and having effect immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue to have effect as if duly made under the corresponding provision of this Act.

(2) Any instrument made under any enactment repealed by this Act prescribing anything which may be prescribed under this Act shall, if in force at the commencement of this Act, continue in force and have effect as if made under the corresponding provision of this Act.

(3) Any scheme made under section twenty-four of the Local Government Act, 1929, or made in like manner by virtue of subsection (2) of section one hundred and thirty-one of that Act, being in either case a scheme in force immediately before the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to have been prepared, submitted and approved in accordance with section fourteen of this Act.

(4) Any document referring to an enactment repealed by this Act shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as referring to the corresponding provision of this Act.

(5) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall be taken as prejudicing the operation of section thirty-eight of the Interpretation Act, 1889 (which relates to the effect of repeals).

23 Repeals and consequential amendments

(1) The enactments specified in the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments respectively specified in that Schedule.

(2) The enactments set out in the Second Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent respectively specified in relation thereto in the third column of that Schedule.

24 Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be cited as the Registration Service Act, 1953.

(2) This Act shall not extend to Scotland or to Northern Ireland.

(3) This Act shall come into force on the first day of October, nineteen hundred and fifty-three.