23 May 2008

Do you order civil registration certificates for England and Wales?

The following was posted on the Society of Genealogists web site. Those of us outside Britain have our own perspective on the service provided and should be heard. If my contacts are anything to go by the British government makes a tidy sum from sales of these certificates overseas.
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Information [22 May 2008] - Else Churchill reports - Recently I was asked to take part in a survey about the General Register Office’s Website and make some comment about proposals to integrate the website into the Direct Gov web portal for all Government websites. Now the survey has been broadened to the public and I have been asked to pass it on to interested parties. I think that it would be useful for family historians to look at the survey and make comments as they think appropriate. If you have any comments to make about ordering certificates through the GRO’s existing website, getting information about indexes, or any other aspect of the certificate service website then here is your opportunity. If you have any feelings about the integration of the General Register Office with the Identity and Passport Service and identity cards you can make comments. I am worried that the GRO website may well become much more difficult to find if it is subsumed wholly within Direct Gov and I know some people have been frustrated with the online ordering system.

You can complete the survey online.

Do take the opportunity to respond. I think the Identity and Passport Agency should know how important the registration service is to the family history community.

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After you take the survey the browser goes to a page with no mention of the GRO function, only passports and security cards -- not a good sign.

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