Schedules Schedule 15: Civil registration fees Part 1: Powers to make regulations for the charging of fees
Paragraph 1 inserts new section 71A into the Marriage Act 1949 ("the 1949 Act").
	Subsection (1) of new section 71A enables fees to be set for a number of specified functions provided in connection with marriages, including under the 1949 Act and the Marriage (Registrar General's Licence) Act 1970, as well as for other marriage services provided by or on behalf of the Registrar General, superintendent registrars and registrars. Existing fees on the face of the 1949 Act are omitted (see paragraphs 9 to 18 of this Schedule), as those fees may now be prescribed under the new section 71A. The power enables fees to be set for services previously provided without charge, and for any services provided in connection with marriages by the persons specified, including services performed under other enactments.
	Subsections (3) and (4) of new section 71A provide that the regulations may require the superintendent registrar or registrar to pass on part of a fee paid to him or her to the Registrar General. In some cases, the Registrar General contributes to services provided by the superintendent registrar and registrar, and this provision enables the costs of that contribution to be recovered. For example, the Registrar General is involved in the verification of divorces obtained overseas, or provides blank certificate stock for use in issuing marriage certificates.
	Subsection (5) of new section 71A enables the regulations to provide for the reduction, waiver, or refund of part or all of a fee, whether by conferring a discretion or otherwise, so that the regulations, and the person to whom the fee is payable, may respond where requiring payment of the fee would be unduly harsh or otherwise inappropriate.
	Regulations under this section will be made by the Secretary of State and subject to the negative resolution procedure.
	Paragraph 2 inserts a new section 38A into the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 ("the 1953 Act"). Subsection (1) of new section 38A allows the Minister to make regulations to set fees for birth and death registration services. As for marriages, the fees currently specified on the face of the 1953 Act are omitted (see paragraphs 22 to 28 of this Schedule) and those fees may instead be prescribed under new section 38A. The power also enables the setting of fees for services which have to date been provided without charge, and, more broadly, for any birth and death registration services (including those performed under other enactments) provided by or on behalf of the Registrar General, superintendent registrars and registrars, or by any other person.
	Also as for marriage, subsections (3) and (4) of new section 38A enable the regulations to provide for part of the fee that is paid to superintendent registrars and registrars to be passed on by them to the Registrar General, to cover the cost of the Registrar General’s contribution to the particular service.
	Regulations under this new section will be made by the Minister and will be subject to the negative resolution procedure.
	Paragraph 3 inserts new section 19B: Fees in respect of provision or copies of records etc. into the Registration Service Act 1953. The Registrar General holds a wide range of records, both modern and historic, and the powers to set fees in respect of those records are complex, widespread and often archaic.
	Subsection (1) of new section 19B enables the Minister to prescribe fees for the provision of copies or other records of any information held by the Registrar General to ensure that the Registrar General is able to recover the costs of providing such services where no other fee is specified, or where it is more appropriate to specify a fee in a single place, rather than prescribing the same fee under a number of different enactments (for example relating to births, deaths, adoptions, parental orders, marriages, gender recognition and so on).
	Paragraph 4 amends section 34 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (fees) to align the provision for fees in connection with civil partnerships with that made for births, deaths and marriages.
	Paragraph 5 amends section 9 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (conversion of civil partnership into marriage), to align the provision for fees in connection with conversions of civil partnerships into marriages with that made for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships.