Statement by the Registrar General, Duncan Macniven
For this, our first Annual Performance Review in this format, I thought it was worth summarising our main achievements during 2005-06 – our 151st year of operation.
The most unusual achievement, in December 2005, was the introduction in the Scottish Parliament of the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services Bill – the first major change to Scottish registration law since 1965. The Bill proposed to modernise the Scottish registration service in many different ways, all focussed on improving its flexibility in serving the needs of people registering births, deaths and other vital events and in serving other customers, including – for instance to prevent fraud – other government departments. By the end of the financial year, the Bill was making good progress in Parliament and it was in due course approved at the end of June.
Improving services to customers was an important theme also in our statistical work. The year was marked by several developments in our statistical outputs, in response to a growing interest in demographic statistics. In particular, we have published estimates of the number of households, are continuing to develop small area estimates (of population and households) and are now publishing life expectancy data for all Scotland and areas within Scotland. We also now make a wider range of background data available on our website, including weekly births and deaths data.
Although the Census is only carried out every 10 years, it is a major task, requiring careful preparation. An important part of that preparation is a field test of new questions and new procedures for collecting the information. During the year, preparations were made for a Census Test which was duly carried out at the end of April 2006. In the interests of efficiency, and to make it easier to provide UK-wide data, we worked increasingly closely throughout the year with our sister Census departments in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland.
We made further improvements in our services to family historians. Work started on the building adaptations needed to create a joint family history centre bringing together our own genealogical sources with those of the National Archives of Scotland and the Lord Lyon – although work was subsequently halted when the main contractor went into receivership. Our genealogical website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) was also developed – with digital images of the remaining Victorian Censuses being added, giving a range of online information unparalleled in the UK, and probably in the world. The website continued to attract many family historians, the monthly number of paid accesses rising from 46,000 to 62,000 during the year.
Another legislative change was the introduction in December 2005 of the registration of civil partnerships between same-sex couples. Thanks to careful planning, in conjunction with registrars all over Scotland, the new registration arrangements operated smoothly and by the end of the financial year, 343 couples had registered partnerships, and both GROS and local registrars had often been commended for the sensitive way that the new civil partnerships were marked.
GROS has until this year been based entirely in Edinburgh. But, as part of the relocation of civil service jobs to other parts of Scotland, the National Health Service Central Register (which provides an index to patients on GP lists in Scotland) relocated during the year to Dumfries. Following a period of parallel running, designed to avoid any diminution in the service we provide to the NHS, the new unit ‘flew solo’ from the planned date of March 2006.
Statement by the Accountable Officer, Eddie Turnbull
The Registrar General for Scotland is a statutory office-holder within the Scottish Administration and, as such, he cannot be the Accountable Officer for our Department. As Head of Corporate Services I have this role and I am personally answerable to the Scottish Parliament in accordance with Section 15 of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.
I must ensure that our Department operates in accordance with the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) which is issued by the Scottish Ministers to provide guidance to the Scottish Executive and other relevant bodies on the proper handling of public funds (see www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm/Intro). The Manual is mainly designed to ensure compliance with statutory and parliamentary requirements; to promote value for money and high standards of propriety; and to secure effective accountability and a good system of internal control.
As Accountable Officer, I have the responsibility for maintaining a sound system of internal control that supports the achievement of our Department’s policies, aims and objectives, whilst safeguarding the public funds and assets for which I am responsible.
We have well developed corporate planning and risk management processes in the Department and our Corporate Plan (GROSPlan) for 2005-06 has been used as the basis for the production of this document.
Read in conjunction with our Annual Accounts for 2005-06 (see http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/abotgros/grosra/accounts-for-the-year-ended-31-march-2006.html) this Annual Performance Review describes what our Department has achieved for the public funds that were made available to us.
Eddie Turnbull
Head of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer