Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965
Registration of Births, Deathsand Marriages (Scotland)Act 1965
1965 CHAPTER 49
An Act to make new provision as respects the registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland, and as respects the recording of changes of name or surname there, and for purposes connected therewith.
[5th August 1965]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
General Organisation of Registration Service
Central Organisation
1 The Registrar General.
(1) The office of the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland shall continue, and any vacancy in that office shall be filled by an appointment made by the Secretary of State.
(2) References in this Act to the Registrar General are references to the person for the time being holding the said office.
(3) The Registrar General shall exercise the functions pertaining to the said office by virtue of this or any other Act; and subject to that general duty, shall have power to do all such things as appear to him necessary or expedient for maintaining the utility and efficiency of the registration service in Scotland.
(4) The Registrar General shall send to the Secretary of State annually, in such form as the Secretary of State may from time to time require, a report containing the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered in Scotland in the year to which the report relates and such other information as the Registrar General thinks expedient or the Secretary of State may require; and the Secretary of State shall lay every such report before each House of Parliament.
2 Registrar General's staff.
(1) The Registrar General may appoint a Deputy Registrar General and, subject to the consent of the Treasury as to number, such other officers including district examiners as he may determine.
(2) Any officer employed at the commencement of this Act under the Registrar General for the purposes of any other enactment or of any enactment repealed by this Act shall be deemed to have been appointed in pursuance of the power conferred by the foregoing subsection.
(3) Any act or thing required by or under any enactment to be done by, to or before the Registrar General may be done by, to or before the Deputy Registrar General.
3 General Register Office.
(1) There shall be maintained for the purposes of this Act premises which shall be known as the General Register Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Scotland (in this Act referred to as ‘the General Register office’).
(2) Any registers in the custody of the Registrar General by virtue of this or any other Act shall be kept and preserved in the General Register Office.
(3) The Registrar General may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, direct that any other premises shall be used for the deposit of any registers or records in the custody of the Registrar General by virtue of this or any other Act, and such premises, so long as they are so used, shall be deemed for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection to be part of the General Register Office.
4 Salaries, receipts and expenses.
(1) There shall be paid to the Registrar General and to the officers appointed by him such salaries or remuneration as the Treasury may from time to time determine.
(2) Every sum received under this or any other Act by or on behalf of the Registrar General, otherwise than under the foregoing subsection, shall be accounted for by the Registrar General and paid by him, at such times as the Treasury may from time to time direct, into the Exchequer.
(3) The salary of the Registrar General and his expenses under this Act, including salaries or remuneration of officers appointed by him, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.
Local Organisation
5 Registration districts and registration authorities.
(1) For the purposes of this Act Scotland shall be divided into districts (in this Act referred to as ‘registration districts’).
(2) Subject to the next following section, the said districts shall be the districts constituted as districts for registration purposes immediately before the commencement of this Act.
(3) For each registration district there shall be a local registration authority which shall be the local authority responsible for the district immediately before the commencement of this Act.
(4) References in this Act to the area of a local registration authority are references to the area consisting of all the registration districts for which that authority is the local registration authority.
6 Alteration of registration districts.
(1) If a local registration authority or two or more adjoining local registration authorities consider it expedient that the number, boundaries or titles of the registration districts within their area or areas, as the case may be, should be altered they may, after consultation with the Registrar General, prepare and submit to the Secretary of State a scheme for that purpose.
(2) A scheme under this section shall specify the date on which the scheme is to come into operation, and may specify different dates for different provisions of the scheme.
(3) Before a scheme under this section is submitted to the Secretary of State the local registration authority or authorities, as the case may be, shall publish in at least two newspapers circulating in their area a notice—
( a ) stating the general effect of the scheme;
( b ) specifying a place in the area where a copy of the scheme, and of any relevant map, may be inspected by any person free of charge at all reasonable hours during a period of one month from the date of the publication of the notice; and
( c ) stating that, within the said period, any person may by notice to the Secretary of State object to the approval of the scheme.
(4) The Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, cause a local inquiry to be held in respect of any scheme submitted to him under this section; and subsections (2) to (9) of section 355 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 shall apply in relation to any such inquiry, with the substitution for any reference to the local authority of a reference to the local registration authority and with any other necessary modifications.
(5) The Secretary of State, after considering any representations duly made to him, and, where a local inquiry is held, the report of the person who held the inquiry, may approve, with or without modifications, any scheme submitted to him under this section; and the scheme as so approved shall have effect accordingly.
(6) A scheme under this section may contain such incidental, consequential or supplemental provisions as may appear necessary or proper for the purposes of the scheme, and may be varied or revoked by a subsequent scheme under this section.
7 Senior and district registrars and other staff.
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section a local registration authority shall appoint for each registration district in their area a registrar of births, deaths and marriages (in this Act referred to as a ‘district registrar’), and may appoint—
( a ) such additional district registrars for any registration district in their area as they think necessary;
( b ) one or more senior registrars of births, deaths and marriages (in this Act referred to as ‘senior registrars’),
( c ) such assistant registrars of births, deaths and marriages (in this Act referred to as ‘assistant registrars’) for any registration district in their area or for the purposes of section 9(1) of this Act as they think necessary.
A senior registrar appointed under paragraph ( b ) of this subsection may be a person who already holds the appointment of district registrar.
(2) A local registration authority shall not exercise the power conferred on them by paragraph ( a ) or ( b ) of the foregoing subsection except after consultation with the Registrar General, and on making an appointment under this section shall forthwith inform the Registrar General of the name and surname of the person appointed and the date when his appointment is to take effect.
(3) No person shall be appointed to any office mentioned in subsection (1) or (8) of this section unless he possesses the appropriate qualifications.
(4) Any person who at the commencement of this Act holds the appointment of a registrar, interim registrar or an assistant registrar under any council which is a local registration authority shall be deemed to hold his appointment, as a district registrar, an additional district registrar, interim district registrar or an assistant registrar, as the case may be, under that local registration authority by virtue...
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