Background to Part 2
9.Civil registration in England and Wales was first introduced in 1837. Since then, the process and the administration of the service have remained broadly unchanged, with responsibility shared between the Registrar General, local authorities and registration officers.
10.Both the Registrar General and the registration officers are statutory office holders, with their duties set out in statute. The rights and liabilities of the Registrar General were, prior to this Act, the responsibility of the office holder. Registration officers were paid and appointed by local authorities but could only be dismissed by the Registrar General. They had no legal employer and as such had no access to employment tribunals.
11.Through this Act, the Government has established the Registrar General as a corporation sole, in order to separate the rights and liabilities of the officeholder from the office. The Government has also changed the employment status of registration officers by moving them into local government employment.