Public Health Act 1936

Notification of births.

203 Provision for early notification of births.

(1) In the case of every child bom it shall be the duty of the father of the child, if at the time of the birth he is actually residing on the premises where the birth takes place, and of any person in attendance upon the mother at the time of, or within six hours after, the birth, to give notice of the birth in manner provided by this section to the medical officer of health of the council who are the welfare authority for the area in which the birth takes place.

(2) Notice under this section shall be given either by posting within thirty-six hours after the birth a prepaid letter or postcard addressed to the medical officer of health at his office or residence and containing the required information, or by delivering within the said period at that officer's office or residence a written notice containing the required information, and a welfare authority shall, upon application being made to them, supply without charge to any medical practitioner or midwife residing or practising within their area addressed and stamped postcards containing the form of notice.

(3) Any person who fails to give notice of a birth in accordance with this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty shillings, unless he satisfies the court that he believed, and had reasonable grounds for believing, that notice had been duly given by some other person.

(4) The medical officer of health of a county district shall send duplicates of any notices received by him under this section to the medical officer of health of the county as soon as may be after they are received:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply to the medical officer of health of a county district the council of which, in addition to being the welfare authority, are also the local supervising authority under the Midwives Acts, 1902 to 1926.

(5) The requirements of this section with respect to the notification of births shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, the requirements of any Act relating to the registration of births.

(6) A registrar of births and deaths shall, for the purpose of obtaining information concerning births which have occurred in his sub-district, have access at all reasonable times to notices of births received by a medical officer of health under this section, or to any book in which those notices may be recorded.

(7) This section shall apply to any child which has issued forth from its mother after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy, whether alive or dead.