Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1: the Statistics Board Section 42 Information relating to births and deaths etc
171.Prior to this Act, the National Statistician was also the Registrar General, and the GRO was part of the ONS. This section therefore ensures that pre-existing arrangements for sharing of data between the Registrar General and ONS will continue between the Registrar General and the Board.
172.This section ensures that information collected at the registration of key life events, such as births and deaths, used to produce statistical outputs (including estimates of populations), can be disclosed to the Board.
173.Subsection (2)(b) includes both information collected at the time of the registration of a birth or death for statistical purposes, and information such as post mortem information that does not become available from a coroner until after the registration of a death.
174.Subsection (4) permits the Board to disclose to the Secretary of State or the Welsh Ministers the information received under this provision from the Registrar General for the purpose of assisting them in the performance of their functions in relation to the health service.
175.The intention is that the sharing of data under this section will be subject to a Memorandum of Understanding or Service Level Agreement between the Registrar General and the Board, which will cover issues such as the means and frequency of data sharing, and the onward transmission of the data.