FFHS-NEWS Petition concerning digitisation of Birth, Marriage and Death indexes

[News from the Federation of Family History Societies]

Petition concerning digitisation of Birth, Marriage and Death indexes

In the FFHS Ezine of October 2007 we drew attention to the e-petition “to
ensure that the General Register Office of the ONS completes asap, as
promised, the digitisation of, and online index to, the national BMD ledgers
dating back to 1837 previously held in the Family Records Centre in London.”

The petition closed on 26 July and the following response has just been
posted on the Internet.

“The General Register Office (GRO) has a statutory obligation to make index
data for registration records publicly available.  Since the closure of the
Family Records Centre in March 2008, it has provided copies of the indexes
in microfiche format at several libraries and record offices across England
and Wales. Many people who would previously have had to visit London to view
the indexes are now able to do so much closer to home. Further details on
where to search the full range of GRO indexes from 1837 to 2008 can be found
at 
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/research/groindexes/holders_of_the_gro_ind
exes.asp

GRO recognises that the creation of a publicly-accessible online index will
be of even greater value to many family historians.  GRO was transferred on
1 April 2008 from the Office for National Statistics to the Identity and
Passport Service (IPS).  IPS has confirmed that the creation of an
accessible online index is a commitment which GRO will continue to work
towards.

A necessary pre-requisite is that all the registration records from 1837
must be created in a digitised format. The project to achieve this has
encountered delays, with about half the records currently digitised.  IPS is
investigating a new project to complete the work and to address the
requirement for an online index.  At this stage options for the best method
of implementation are being reviewed, and new timescales will be announced
as soon as decisions based on the outcome of the review can be taken.”

Roger Lewry
Archives Liaison Officer
Email: legislation at ffhs.org.uk
www.ffhs.org.uk 

25 August 2008