Commentary on Sections Information relating to births and deaths etc. Section 284 - Special Notices of Births and Deaths
1490.Section 269 of the NHS Act previously provided that local registrars of births and deaths must provide particulars of registered births and deaths to PCTs. In relation to births, the section also required a child’s father (for a home birth) or person attending the mother (in other cases) to notify the PCT in whose area the birth takes place. The section also provided for the local registrar to have access to the notification of births provided to the local PCT.
1491.This section replaces references to PCTs in section 269 of the NHS Act with references to “relevant body or bodies” and provides for a new regulation-making power, which allows the Secretary of State to specify in regulations which bodies are to be notified of births and deaths. “Relevant bodies” are defined as the NHS Commissioning Board, CCGs and local authorities. Subsection (8) inserts, among others, a new subsection (12) into section 269 so as to ensure that information received by a local authority by virtue of this section may be used by it only for the purposes of functions exercisable by it in relation to the health service.