Population (Statistics) Act 1938

1938 c.12

An Act to make further provision for obtaining statistical information with respect to the population of Great Britain; and for purposes connected therewith.

1 Power to direct information to be furnished.

With a view to the compilation of statistical information with respect to the social and civil condition of the population of Great Britain, every person giving information in accordance with the Registration Acts, upon the registration, on or after the first day of July nineteen hundred and thirty-eight, of any birth, still-birth, or death, shall furnish to the registration officer such of the particulars specified in the Schedule to this Act as are appropriate to the registration and are within the knowledge of the person giving the information.

C12 Duty of Registrar-General to collect information, and provision for expenses.

1

It shall be the duty of the Registrar-General to make such arrangements and to do all such things as are necessary for the collection and collation of all particulars furnished to registration officers pursuant to this Act, and for that purpose to make arrangements for the preparation and issue of any necessary forms and instructions.

C32

The Registrar-General in the performance of his functions under this Act shall be subject to the control of, and shall comply with any directions given by, F14the Secretary of State.

3

Any expenses incurred with the approval of the Treasury by F15the Secretary of State or by the Registrar-General in connection with the performance of his functions under this Act shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

3 Power to make regulations.

X11

The power of the Minister of Health, and of the Registrar-General with the approbation of the Minister of Health, under the Registration Acts to make regulations with respect to the performance by registration officers of their functions under those Acts shall include power to make regulations requiring registration officers to perform such functions in connection with the furnishing, collection and collation of particulars directed to be furnished by this Act as may be prescribed, and with respect to the performance by them of those functions.

Functions which registration officers are required to perform by virtue of any such regulations shall be deemed to be functions under the Registration Acts.

2

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4 Penalties.

1

If any person—

a

refuses or neglects to furnish in accordance with this Act any information which he is required by this Act to furnish; or

b

in furnishing any such information makes any statement which, to his knowledge, is false in a material particular;

he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding F2level 1 on the standard scale.

2

F11Subject to any other enactmentNo information obtained by virtue of this Act with respect to any particular person shall be disclosed except so far as may be necessary—

a

for the performance by any person of his functions under this Act in connection with the furnishing, collection or collation of such information; or

b

for the performance by theF12Statistics Board or Registrar-General of F13its or his functions under section five of the M1Census Act 1920;

and if any person discloses any such information in contravention of this subsection, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or to both such imprisonment and such fine, or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and such fine:

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply to any disclosure of information made for the purposes of any proceedings which may be taken in respect of an offence under this section, or for the purposes of any report of such proceedings.

5 Saving for Registristration Acts.

Nothing in this Act requiring particulars to be furnished for the purposes of this Act shall affect any provision of the Registration Acts requiring information to be given for the purposes of those Acts.

6 Application to Scotland. C2

In the application of this Act to Scotland—

F3a

references to F16the Secretary of State shall be construed as references to the Secretary of State;.

b

the expression “Registration Acts” means F4the M2Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965, and the expression “Registrar-General” means the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Scotland;

c

for any reference to a registration officer there shall be substituted a reference to a registrar as defined in the M3Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act, 1854;

d

. . . F5

7 Short title, interpretation and extent.

1

This Act may be cited as the Population (Statistics) Act, 1938.

2

In this Act the expression “Registration Acts” means the F6M4Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, and the expression “registration officer” means any superintendent registrar and registrar of births and deaths.

3

This Act shall not extend to Northern Ireland.

4

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F8SCHEDULE

Annotations:
Amendments (Textual)

[Particulars which may be required

1

On registration of a birth (including a still-birth)

F18a

in all cases—

i

the age of the mother;

ii

the number of previous children of the mother, and how many of them were born alive or were still-born;

b

where the name of any person is to be entered in the register of births as father of the child, F17or as a parent of the child by virtue of section 42 or 43 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, the age of that person;

F19F20c

where the birth is of a child whose father and mother were married to each other at the time of the child's birth (or is by reason of any marriage of the child's parents treated by section 1(2) of the Family Law Reform Act 1987 as such a child for the purposes of that Act)—

i

the date of the marriage, and

ii

whether the mother had been married, or had formed a civil partnership, before her marriage to the child's father;

F20c

the number of previous children born to the mother and how many of them were—

i

born alive; and

ii

still-born;

d

where the parents are married to, or in a civil partnership with, each other—

i

the date of their marriage or formation of civil partnership; and

ii

whether the mother had been married or in a civil partnership before that  date.

d

where the birth is of a child to whom section 1(3) of that Act applies by reason of any civil partnership between the child's parents—

i

the date of the formation of the civil partnership, and

ii

whether the mother had been married, or had formed a civil partnership, before she formed the civil partnership with the child's other parent;

e

where the birth does not fall within paragraph (c) or (d), whether at any time before the birth the mother had been married or had formed a civil partnership.

2

On registration of death

a

whether the deceased was single, married, widowed F9, divorced, a civil partner or former civil partner, and, if a former civil partner, whether the civil partnership ended on death or dissolution;

b

the age of the surviving spouseF10or civil partner, if any, of the deceased.]