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Registration Certificates

Volume 453: debated on Thursday 23 November 2006

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what provision is in place to make (a) birth, (b) marriage and (c) death certificates available in an accessible format for the blind and partially sighted. (102468)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 23 November 2006:

As Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been to reply to your question about the accessibility of birth, marriage and death certificates for the blind and partially sighted. (102468)

Current legislation only permits birth, marriage and death certificates to be issued in a prescribed format. However, if a customer of the General Register Office requests certificate information in Braille we will arrange for the certificate to be passed to the Royal National Institute for the Blind for transcription into Braille. Both documents are then sent to the customer. The customer pays only the fee for the certificate of £11.50, with the General Register Office paying the RNIB fee of £25. Local registration offices may also make use of this facility.