Registration of births, deaths and marriages

This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on the registration of births, deaths and marriages. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.

Standard Notes

Date	Description
08.06.2012	Forced marriage
	The Government has said that it make forced marriage a criminal offence, and that it will also criminalise the breach of Forced Marriage Protection Orders. This follows a consultation, the results of which were published on 8 June 2012.
18.01.2012	Marriage venues
	At present, marriages must normally take place in a Register Office; a building that has been approved for the purposes of civil marriage by the local authority of the area in which the building is situated; a building of the Church of England or the Church in Wales; a building that has been registered for the purposes of religious marriage other than in the Church of England or Church in Wales; or a naval, military or air force chapel. Clause 112 of the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which is still before Parliament, would remove the time restrictions for marriage or civil partnership and the associated offences in England and Wales.
15.03.2011	Pre-nuptial agreements: recent developments
10.02.2011	Humanist marriage ceremonies
	Humanists, like anyone else who does not wish to have a religious marriage, are able to have a civil marriage either in a register office or in approved premises. However, the British Humanist Association believes that humanists still suffer a disadvantage: they have given as an example that the registrar may not share humanist values and may even be personally opposed to humanism. The British Humanist Association is campaigning for the law to be changed.
16.06.2010	Registration of stillbirth
	The birth of a baby who is born alive must be registered, whatever the length of the completed gestation. When a baby is stillborn (born dead) after 24 weeks gestation, the birth must be registered. However, there is no provision to allow the registration of stillbirths before the 24th week of pregnancy. The charity Sands (Stillbirth and neonatal death charity) provides forms of certificate to be offered by health care staff to parents of a baby born before the 24th week of pregnancy who showed no signs of life.

Research Papers

Date	Description
23.01.2009	Welfare Reform Bill: disabled people, child maintenance and birth registration
	This paper is one of two which examine the main proposals of the Welfare Reform Bill 2008-09. It deals with Parts 2-4 of the Bill, which include provisions for a new right for disabled people to control how public resources are used to meet their needs, new powers to enforce child maintenance, and for the joint registration of births. See also Research Paper 09/08.
17.02.2004	Gender Recognition Bill (HL) (Bill 56 2003/04)
	The Gender Recognition Bill (HL). (Bill 56 2003/04). House of Commons Library Research Paper 04/15.
19.03.2002	Relationships (Civil Registration) Bill and Civil Partnerships Bill (HL) (Bill 36 and HL Bill 41 of 2001-02)
	Relationships (Civil Registration) Bill and Civil Partnerships Bill (HL) (Bill 36 and HL Bill 41 of 2001/02). House of Commons Library Research Paper 02/17

Early Day Motions

Date	Description
22.11.2011	GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
	That this House welcomes increasing interest in genealogy and family history; notes that to get a replicate birth, marriage or death certificate from the General Register Office (GRO) ...
22.11.2011	REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES, ETC (S.I., 2011, No. 2661)
	That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that theMarriages and Civil Partnerships (Approved Premises) (Amendment) Regulations 2011(S.I., 2011, No. 2661), dated 3 ...
07.09.2010	STILL-BIRTH CERTIFICATES
	That this House notes with approval that it has been possible for a full name to be recorded on a still-birth certificate since 1995; further notes that still-births before 24 weeks ...
03.12.2008	BRITISH HOME CHILDREN IN CANADA
	That this House notes that many Canadian citizens are descendants of British Home Children who were sent to Canada from the early 1870s to the late 1940s; further notes that these descendants ...
12.11.2007	REGISTRATIONS OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS
	That this House notes evidence from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that suggests that nearly 40 per cent. of births worldwide are not registered; further notes that two thirds ...