The information requested fall within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated 4 December 2006:
The Registrar General for England and Wales, has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average waiting time was for a birth registration appointment in each local authority area in 2005-06. I am replying in her absence. (104457)
The responsibility for delivery of the civil local registration service in England and Wales is a local government function and the information requested is not available centrally.
The Registration Service Act 1953 provides for local authorities in England and Wales to make a registration scheme that sets out the service delivery for its area. The local authority provides such registration service delivery points and registration officers they consider appropriate to deal with the volume of birth and death registrations in their area. These provisions should allow the public to meet the statutory time limits for the registration of these events, 5 days to register a death, and 42 days to register a birth.
The responsibility for civil registration in Scotland rests with Mr Tom McCabe MSP.