The Newsletter of the Family Records Centre (FRC) - Issue 14 Spring 2001
(1st
online edition)
General News from the FRC
Closure Dates in 2001
Monday 7 May (Bank Holiday)
Monday 28 May (Bank Holiday)
Monday 27 August (Bank Holiday)
Saturday 22 to Wednesday 26 December (Christmas)
Tuesday 1 January 2002 (New Year's day)
The electronic Family Record
This is the first edition of the Family Record to be fully available
in electronic format. If you would like to receive future editions electronically,
simply send an email to: FRC-Newsletter@pro.gov.uk with the word "Subscribe"
in the subject heading.
The FRC on the Internet
Following the relaunch of the PRO website (www.pro.gov.uk), the FRC
section has been relocated to www.familyrecords.gov.uk
familyrecords.gov is the new Internet portal from a consortium of central
government departments that hold key records of interest to family historians.
The consortium consists of: the Family Records Centre, Public Record Office,
General Register Office, General Register Office (Scotland), National
Archives of Scotland, National Library of Wales, PRO Northern Ireland,
and the British Library (India Office Collection). Discussions are being
held with other potential members.
Coach Parties
We would like to remind anyone planning to bring a coach party to the
FRC to contact us in advance. Although there is no booking system, we
can advise of any potential problems with a planned date so that a visit
can be as successful as possible. In addition, we make the calendar of
planned visits available to all our users, so potentially busy days can
be identified. The calendar is displayed at the FRC in the refreshment
area and we will shortly be making it available on our web pages.
The FRC on the road
The FRC will be attending four major Family History Fairs in 2001. Look
out for our stand at:
- Society of Genealogists, London, May 5 & 6
- York, June 23
- Weston-super-Mare, July 7
- Preston, October 27
If you're planning to attend any of these events, please take the
time to come and see us and find out more about what we have to offer.
Family History talks at the FRC
In the Winter issue of the Family Record we
announced our plans to hold a series of free lectures at the FRC
this summer. The theme of the talks is "Tracing Your Ancestors at..."
and a provisional list of dates and speakers has been drawn up:
5 June, Family Records Centre
12 June, London Metropolitan Archives
19 June, PRFD (First Avenue House)
26 June, Westminster Archives
3 July, Guildhall Library
10 July, Society of Genealogists
17 July, India Office Library
24 July, Hyde Park Family History Centre
31 July, Public Record Office (1)
7 August, Public Record Office (2)
The talks will take place in the Meetings Room at the FRC and will start
at 2pm, lasting roughly one hour. Tickets will be available on the day
from the New Customers Desk on the first floor and will be issued on a
first-come first-served basis. No advance bookings will be taken.
News from ONS
New Telephone Number - 0845 603 7788
The Certificate Services communications review, which was completed in
February, identified some confusion about our various contact telephone
numbers. Some numbers led to the Southport office, others led to London,
and it seemed that you didn't always know which one to use.
To address this, from May 1, a new centralised telephone number will
be introduced (0845 603 7788). This number will continue to be staffed
from 8am to 6pm Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm Friday and 10am to 4pm
on Saturday. It is hoped that the new number will remove the confusion
and, as one team will handle all calls, ensure that uniform information
is given out.
End of Year Report
The year ending 31 March 2001 saw yet another record for certificate
applications with an overall increase of some 20%. Although by far the
greater percentage rise was in applications made direct to Southport by
post, telephone and email, there was also a substantial growth in business
at the FRC with 548,000 applications received. This compares with 512,000
applications in 1999/00 and 489,000 in 1998/99.
Despite the increase in applications, target turnaround times were met
for 99.8% of PSR collect cases and for 54.9% of post out cases. The latter
figure reflects missed targets in the early months of the financial year.
We are delighted to be able to report that, since September, turnaround
times for virtually all applications have been achieved. For the year
as a whole the "target met" rate for all work was 75.2%.
The level and consistency of output achieved in the latter half of the
year resulted in a long-standing family historian and respected member
of the User Group commenting that our current performance was "the
best ever that he could remember". We will do our very best to ensure
that such standards are maintained. Additionally we will continue to try
and improve the quality of the products and services that we deliver,
and the way we communicate with customers. We also want to be an open
and responsive organisation that genuinely welcomes customer input and
feedback. More about what we are doing to take this forward in the next
edition of the Family Record.
Article in the Daily Mirror
In an article published on 24 March, the Daily Mirror implied that registration
records and certificates had been stolen from the FRC. This was not the
case. It was in fact fiche copies of part of the public index of births
which disappeared. The matter has been reported to the Police. Anyone
with information about the incident is asked to contact Islington Police
Station, quoting crime reference NI 2708980/01/BG.
The Registrar General has written to the Editor of the Daily Mirror and
the full text of his letter is reproduced below:
The Mirror on 24 March carried a totally misleading report which implied
that birth records/birth certificates had been stolen from the Family
Records Centre. In fact, microfiche copies of some of the birth index
volumes that are in every day use by the public at the FRC were taken.
It is impossible to create false birth certificates from the limited amount
of information contained in an index reference. Contrary to what was implied,
theft of the fiche gives no advantage or access to birth information than
is already publicly available.
The law requires me to make available and provide public access to
the index. Fiche copies are available for sale to the public, and can
be found at County Record Offices, libraries, and family history centres
up and down the country.
Staff News
We are sure that those of you who know Marc Summersgill, Acting Operations
Manager, will be pleased to hear that Marc has been promoted. Marc took
up his new job on 9 April and is now based at Drummond Gate.
Open Days at Southport
Certificate Services Section in Southport opened its doors to the public
on the 5th and 6th of April for the second time
in two years. The first Open Day, in April 2000, had proved so successful,
it was decided that this year the event should be extended to allow for
more visitors. Overall, two hundred and forty people got the chance to
see the inner workings of Certificate Services.
40 people attended 3 tours on each day and after being met in reception
by Pauline Wall and Sue Fisher, they were ushered into room 09 for an
introductory talk given by the Senior Operations Manager, Carol M Clarke.
Visitors were then split into groups of eight and taken to the various
work areas by 10 tour guides.
After an extensive tour of the work areas, visitors were given the opportunity
to ask questions to a number of managers from various areas in a specially
organised Question and Answer session.
This session lasted for half an hour, then guests were presented with
an information pack containing many useful items including information
on the 1901 Census, useful addresses, application forms, a quick guide
to the indexes and a comments form. The comment form will allow members
of the public to give us feedback on the Open Day. From this we will be
able to see if any further improvements can be made.
It was a large undertaking but all involved felt it was worth the effort
as we have hopefully ensured our guests leave us with a greater understanding
of the work of Certificate Services Branch.
News from PRO
National Burial Index
The FRC will be making the CD-ROMs of the National Burial Index available
on the first floor alongside FamilySearch and the 1881 Census Index.
As yet no date has been fixed for their release at the FRC.
1901 Census Project
1891 Norfolk Pilot
Calling all those who use the census returns! From 1 May you can visit
the PRO's new census website and try the 1891 Pilot for yourselves.
It's an opportunity to see how the 1901 online service is going to
work when it goes live in January 2002. The data used for the pilot is
from the 1891 census for Norfolk. A key feature is an online questionnaire
so that users can give immediate feedback on the service. So whether you
have Norfolk ancestors or not we recommend you try the pilot and give
the PRO lots of feedback. Remember the pilot is only available for three
months.
Questions and Answers
Where do I access it?
On our new census website at http://census.pro.gov.uk from any computer
connected to the Internet, whether at home, at your local library, record
office or even cyber café. The pilot will also be available at the FRC
and the PRO, Kew.
When can I access it?
1 May 2001 to 31 July 2001
Why was Norfolk chosen?
Norfolk was selected because we needed a county which was not too large
but had a reasonable number of inhabitants (Norfolk had about 500,000
in 1891). The chosen county had to cover urban and rural areas, a coastal
region (to include ports with merchant and naval vessels) and in the urban
areas to include a range of institutions (e.g. workhouses). Norfolk met
all these criteria.
How will I search?
You will be able to conduct a number of searches - by name, place, address,
institution or vessel. There will be clear instructions on the different
types of searches and lots of handy tips to guide you along.
Will I have to pay?
There will be a charge for part of the service so that we can test out
the charging mechanisms in advance of the main 1901 service going live.
The index will be free. You can conduct as many basic and advanced
searches as you wish, all for free.
You can view a digital image of the census return for 80p. Once you have
bought the image you can save it to your own system and/or print out a
copy. If you do not have printing facilities at home you will be able
to place an order online and a copy will be posted to you.
You can view the details for an individual transcribed from the census
returns for 40p. If you wish to view the details for all the others in
the same household you can do this for an extra 50p.
How do I pay?
For the pilot you can only pay by credit/debit card. The following cards
will be accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Debit Cards (Switch/Delta). Full
details of how to pay will be available on the website.
How do I give feedback?
There will be an online questionnaire with lots of space for you to add
extra comments. The results of your feedback will be carefully analysed
and used in the final stages of preparing the 1901 service for launch
in January 2002.
Where can I find out more about the pilot and the 1901 service?
Our new census website will keep you informed about the project. You
could join one of our mailing lists by emailing us at 1901census@pro.gov.uk
or telephone us at 020 8392 5350. Members of the 1901 team will be at
the Society of Genealogists' fair in London on 5 and 6 May, the Yorkshire
Family History Fair at York Racecourse on 23 June and the South West Area
Group of Family History Societies Fair at Weston Super Mare on 7 July.
We intend to have live demonstrations of the 1891 pilot at these events.
Interesting finds
Thanks to everyone who has sent in references
over the past few months. We've had some wonderful examples, like
the man who gave his occupation as "Everything in general
- nothing in particular" or the boy called Alphabet Ayres
and we've set aside a noticeboard on the first floor to display
the most interesting. We'd like to hear from you if you've
ever found a famous person in the census returns or perhaps someone
with a strange occupation or an unusual name? Just send us a note
quoting the reference (or a photocopy of the document) marked for
the attention of Dave Annal (email david.annal@pro.gov.uk) or hand
the details to a member of staff on the first floor enquiry desk.
Further information
If you would like more information about any of the items in this newsletter
please telephone 020 8392 5300.
General information about
the FRC
The Family Record is jointly produced by the Office for National
Statistics (General Register Office) and the Public Record Office
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