----- Original Message ----- From: "Julie Preston" <juliefpreston@sbcglobal.net> To: <WLS-CARDIGANSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 3:32 PM Subject: Re: [WLS-CGN] Proposed changes > > Hello? > > Is this out of context? What prompted this? > > Regards, > > Julie Preston It presumably refers to the consultation document "Civil Registration: Delivering Vital Change", which sketches out the government's proposals to reform the system in England & Wales. If fully implemented, it MIGHT lead to civil registers of births and deaths over 100 years old being transferred to local record offices (where there would be available on free access). However it would also mean that information from civil registers under 100 years old would become much more restricted (except to authorised bodies and to certain close relatives - not yet fully defined). The above are just two small parts of a very wide-ranging paper, covering many aspects of the civil registration process. This latest paper was published earlier in the Summer, and it has already provoked much debate amongst registrars, genealogists, and other interested parties, all of whom have made representations. It is still just a consultation document and inevitably, some of the details are quite sketchy. You can see the full document at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/registration/downloads/00Regnprelims_v1.pdf . However, anyone still wishing to add further comments (presumably by Email) to those already submitted is going to have to be extremely quick - it is over 300 pages long and the closing date is this Friday! (The most important chapters dealing with access to records are 6 & 7). AJ