Local Government Act 1929

24 Schemes for the administration of Registration Acts in counties and county boroughs.

(1) Before the first day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, or such later date as the Minister may allow, it shall be the duty of the council of every county and county borough to prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme for—

(a) the division into registration districts and sub-districts for the purposes of the Registration Acts of the whole of the county or county borough, including any portion of the county or county borough forming part of a registration district the transferred functions in relation to which are at the time of the making of the scheme discharged by the council of some other county or county borough;

(b) determining the number of superintendent registrars, registrars of births and deaths, and registrars of marriages, and other officers required for the purposes of the Registration Acts within the county or county borough;

(c) determining the location of offices and stations in the various registration districts and sub-districts;

(d) conferring and imposing on registrars of births and deaths all or any of the functions of registrars of marriages;

(e) providing, where two or more officers are appointed to act for a single registration district or sub-district, for the distribution between them of the registration functions to be discharged within the registration district or sub-district ; so, however, that such distribution shall not render any such officer disqualified from acting at any time or at any place in the registration district or sub-district as the case may be;

(f) fixing (subject to such power of revision as may be provided by the scheme) the salary and other remuneration (if any) to be attached to each office, and the allowances (if any) to be paid for travelling, the provision of office accommodation and other expenses;

(g) fixing (subject as aforesaid) the conditions on which an office is to be held, so, however, that nothing in the scheme shall affect the power of the Registrar-General to remove from office an officer in any case in which the Registrar-General is satisfied that the officer has been guilty of serious default in the performance of the duties imposed on him by the Registration Acts or any regulations made thereunder;

(h) applying with the necessary modifications and adaptations any of the provisions of this Act relating to the transfer, superannuation and compensation of officers.

(2) Every scheme under this section shall provide for conferring on the clerk of the county council or the town clerk of the county borough such general powers of supervising the administration within the county or county borough of the provisions of the Registration Acts as may be specified in the scheme, and in particular powers with respect to—

(a) the fixing of the hours of attendance of officers;

(b) the distribution of business between officers;

(c) the transfer of officers from one registration district or sub-district to another;

and section five of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1836, shall have effect as if amongst the officers with respect to whose duties under the Registration Acts regulations may be made under that section there were included clerks of county councils, town clerks, and such other officers as may be appointed under the scheme.

(3) Every scheme under this section shall fix the date or dates on which the scheme is to come into operation and may fix different dates for different provisions of the scheme or for different areas, and the dates so fixed may be made dependent on the happening of specified events.

(4) No scheme submitted to the Minister under this section shall be of any effect unless and until it is approved by the Minister and the Minister, after considering any representations with respect to the scheme which may be submitted to him by any officer affected, may approve the scheme with or without modifications.

(5) If a council fail to submit to the Minister a scheme under this section within the time mentioned in this section, the Registrar-General may, after consultation with the council, make a scheme for the purpose, and any scheme so made, if approved by the Minister, shall have effect as if it were a scheme submitted by the council and approved by the Minister.

(6) Where a scheme has been made and approved under this section, the Registration Acts shall have effect subject thereto.