The Newsletter of the Family Records Centre (FRC) - Issue 17 Winter 2002 (4th online edition)

Headlines from the GRO

Registration Review - Publication of Policy Document

On 22 January the Government published its long awaited policy paper on civil registration and access to records. The White Paper, called "Civil Registration: Vital Change" sets out the Government's proposals for modernising civil registration in England and Wales, and explains the fundamental changes that will be made to the local and central delivery of the service. In addition to creating a central electronic database of recent events, providing greater public choice on venues for marriage and the means of giving information for birth and death registration, the Government's computerisation proposals include the granting of access to civil registration information relating to people of over 100 years of age.

At the Press launch of the White Paper, it was announced that the legislative changes needed to allow the proposed changes to be implemented would be made by means of the order making powers of the Regulatory Reform Act. This is an alternative to the usual "Bill" legislative route and will involve further public consultation and Parliamentary Committee scrutiny on the detail of the proposed changes. Although this will inevitably take time, as will the implementation of the changes, it does seem as if we now have a process which will deliver the changes that genealogists and family historians have been waiting for for many years.

If you would like to find out more about the proposals and to discuss their implications, the Registration Review Team will be running a series of seminars at the FRC. The seminars will last for approximately an hour and will consist of a presentation of the main issues followed by a Question & Answer session.

Seminars will be held on Thursday 7 February in the meetings room at the FRC at the following times:

10.30 - 11.30
12.30 - 13.30
14.30 - 15.30
16.00 - 17.00
17.30 - 18.30

Places are limited and will be on a first come, first served basis.

A link to the White Paper is available on the ONS website. Summary leaflets are also available at the FRC.

Headlines from the PRO

1901 Census at the FRC

As many of you will already be aware, the service was launched online on 2 January, but was soon overwhelmed by the demand, and was taken down later that week. This prevented any access to 1901 at the FRC in the first week of January. Fortunately very few people turned up at the FRC with the intention of using 1901, and most of those that did were thankfully philosophical about the situation.

As part of the phased re-launch of the online service, 1901 Online was made available at the FRC on Monday 7 January. Since then we have been busy but no one has been turned away due to a lack of seat tickets and the longest wait has been about 30 minutes. However, we have been close to capacity on 1901 several times, particularly on our usual busy days of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We anticipate that it will be very busy in the second half of February, which is our traditional peak time because of the half-term holidays.

There have been occasions when the service has been suspended to permit upgrade work to the online service, sometimes at short notice. Our advice continues to be to check on the situation at the FRC before travelling, by calling 020 8392 5300.

The 1901 Census is being released to an increasing number of Service Centres, prior to the re-launch of the full Internet service. For updates on the availability of the 1901 service beyond the FRC, visit the Census Online website or call 020 8392 5200.

Finally, thank you to all our users who have been so complimentary about the 1901 service at the FRC.

All the staff have been working very hard, and the positive feedback we have received is much appreciated.

1901 Flatscreens

We have received several queries regarding the installation of 'expensive' flatscreens on our 1901 terminals, and whether the cost was justified.

Apart from their aesthetic and space-saving features, the reason for choosing flatscreens was heat output. Installing 48 PC's and 4 printers in place of a similar number of film and fiche readers would have placed a considerable extra burden on the building's air-conditioning system. However, flatscreens are energy-efficient and reduce total heat output of the 1901 terminals by more than half. This avoids the need for an expensive and disruptive upgrade to the air-conditioning. Regarding cost, the price of flatscreens has fallen dramatically and they are now only slightly more expensive than old-style screens of similar quality.

General News From The FRC

Two New Centre Managers

We are pleased to report that in December both PRO and GRO welcomed new FRC Centre Managers, both of whom we hope you are already familiar with!

Lee Oliver (PRO) and Pauline Mason (GRO) took up their substantive positions in December and we hope you will join us in wishing them all the best for the future.

Pauline and Lee have worked in the FRC for the past 3 years as Operations Managers, bringing with them a wealth of experience from other parts of GRO and PRO respectively.

Pauline joined the FRC after working for many years as an Inspector of Registration covering London and the South East. Prior to this she worked in the Southport office in a variety of posts, including Typing Manager and Welfare Officer.

Lee joined the PRO in 1989 and has also worked in various departments. He was a member of the Project team that moved the Census Room operation from Chancery Lane to the FRC in 1997. More recently he has been planning the delivery of the 1901 Census at the FRC.

(Meet more GRO/PRO managers in the April edition of the Family Record)

We're talking to you!

Following the success of the series of talks held last summer at the Family Records Centre, we are currently planning a new round for this year. Again, the aim of the talks will be to give you some ideas about where to go next with your family history research.

Watch out for details of the full programme in the next issue of the Family Record.

Family Records Centre Closure Dates 2002

Easter - Friday 29th March to Monday 1st April (inclusive)
May Bank Holiday - Monday 6th May
Golden Jubilee Holiday - Monday 3rd June to Tuesday 4th June (inclusive)
August Bank Holiday - Monday 26th August
Christmas - Wednesday 25th December to Saturday 28th December (inclusive)
The Office will close at 5 pm on 24 and 31 December

FRC Open Evening/Open Morning

Many of you will have attended the FRC Open Evening which was held on Wednesday 14th November. A write up of the event is included as an appendix to this newsletter. From feedback we have received, it is apparent that many of our customers would like to attend an Open event on a Saturday morning. Therefore, the next Open Morning will be held on the lower ground floor at 9am on Saturday 18th May. Please note that access to both the ground and first floors will not be possible until 9.30am.

News From The Public Record Office

Family History Databases

The Family History Databases (FHD) have been expanded to include digitised copies of our collection of Trade Directories. This is part of a programme to safeguard our collection by replacing the original volumes with digitised copies and is being done as a collaborative project with Archive CD Books. Individual trade directories can also be purchased on CD-ROM in the Shop.

A single FHD 'trials' machine has been set up to allow us to make new CD's available without adding them to the server. This will give customers the opportunity to 'road test' new items, and we will then judge their usefulness based on your feedback. Where appropriate, we will then add them to the main collection of Family History Databases. The system now has a printing facility, similar to the one for 1901 at the FRC. This works on all the Databases except FamilySearch. Payment is by CopyCard and the charge is 10p per A4 copy.

Internet Access Point

The IAP is now available in the Exhibition Area on the First Floor. This is a cybercafé facility linked to the one at Kew. There are 4 terminals which can be used to access the Internet, at a cost of 50p per quarter hour. Payment can be made by FRC CopyCard or cash.

PRO October Survey

A customer survey was held on the first floor of the FRC on Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 October 2001. The results of our surveys are of enormous benefit to us, helping to us understand our customers' needs and to plan for future services at the FRC.

In our last survey we asked you about your visit; what kind of research you had come to do and which sources you looked at. We found out that 95% of you were undertaking family history research and that 88% were doing so as a hobby. 92% of visitors to the first floor were using census returns, with 29% looking at wills and 24% using the IGI/Family Search. It was interesting to note that 82% of visitors to the first floor also came to the FRC to look at births, marriages and deaths.

The FRC prides itself in delivering a high quality service and we're delighted that this is reflected in the results of the survey. The vast majority of you agreed that the staff were knowledgeable and approachable and 93% rated the overall service as 'good' or 'excellent'.

Further results from the October survey are on display in the Exhibition Area on the first floor.

World War One Army Service Records at Kew

Over 1,000 new reels of microfilm containing WW1 army service records have been released by the PRO since the beginning of January, covering soldiers whose surnames start with the letters 'I' and 'J'.

This huge project should be completed this summer with the release of the records for the letters 'H' in May and 'G' in July.

The records can be seen in the Microfilm Reading Room at Kew and are in the record series WO/363.

Events and Exhibitions at the Public Record Office

The Public Record Office has recently opened a small museum that showcases some of the Office's most famous documents from Domesday Book to the SS Empire Windrush Passenger List. In addition, the Education and Visitor Centre hosts temporary exhibitions scheduled as part of a programme of events and conferences that is open to all.

For further details, please contact us at the address below:

Interpretation Team,
Public Record Office,
Kew,
Surrey.
TW9 4DU

Tel. 020 8392 5202 / 5323.
Fax: 020 8392 5345
Email: events@pro.gov.uk
Website: www.pro.gov.uk

News From The General Register Office

GRO Customer Survey

Certificate Services Branch recently surveyed 2000 customers. Over a thousand survey forms were returned and below is a selection of the responses. If you would like to receive the survey results in full, please e-mail david.burgess@ons.gov.uk or telephone the Certificate Services Public Relations Unit on 0151 471 4336.

How do you normally apply for certificates?
49% - Personal visit to the Family Records Centre in London
31% - Letter to the General Register Office
15% - Telephone to the General Register Office
2% - Fax to the General Register Office
3% - Other methods

How would you rate the service you received?
41% - Excellent
44% - Good
12% - Acceptable
3% - Poor or unacceptable

How would you rate the quality of the certificate(s) you received?
30% - Excellent
43% - Good
21% - Acceptable
5% - Poor
1% - Unacceptable

Why did you apply for your certificate(s)?
83% - Family History research purposes
9% - Legal purposes (e.g. passport application)
8% - Other purposes

Would you use a secure on-line service to order certificates?
73% - Yes
27% - No

Have you ever used the FRC Priority service?
95% - No
5% - Yes

Those customers that had used the FRC Priority service rated it as follows -

50% - Excellent
48% - Good
2% - Poor

Have you ever made a complaint about the service?
89% - No
11% - Yes

Of those who had -

31% - Stated they felt their complaint was handled very well
49% - Stated they felt their complaint was handled acceptably
20% - Stated they felt their complaint was handled poorly

GRO continues to meet targets

We are pleased report that in December, Certificate Services Branch continued to meet all turnaround targets for certificates, and replied to all correspondence, such as letters, e-mails and faxes on time.

The office processed 40,208 applications for certificates - 26,894 of these were made via the FRC. Of these 40,000 applications, only 16 were processed late.

For December quarter 2001, GRO processed a total of 171,347 applications, of which 171,154 (over 99.9%) were despatched on time (or early!) with only 193 despatched after the branch target date.

The figures for the financial year as a whole will be published in the next edition of the Family Record.

No change to certificate fees for 2002/2003

Certificate fees are required to be set at a level whereby the full cost of providing the service is recovered from income. In other words, GRO aims to ensure neither a profit nor a deficit.

In the Autumn of each year a fees review is undertaken. This takes into account existing (and past) levels of income and expenditure, and projects likely demand (and associated costs) for the next financial year. We anticipate that demand for certificates from GRO will continue to rise during 2002/2003.

We also remain committed to meeting our existing published turn-around times for certificates. On this basis, and assuming we are able to continue to make cost efficiencies, the existing fee structure for certificates will remain unchanged for the financial year 2002/2003. We will of course also strive to make further service and quality improvements. In this respect we remain hopeful of introducing an on-line facility for certificates. The fee structure will be the same as for certificates ordered at the FRC (i.e. £6.50 provided the GRO index reference is quoted).

Finally, whilst on the subject of fees, please note that cheques should only be made payable to "The Office for National Statistics" or "ONS". Our Bankers have advised that from 1 April cheques not made payable in this way will not be accepted.

Regrettably this means that from that date any cheques made payable to "The General Register Office" or "The Family Records Centre" (or "GRO" or "FRC") will have to be returned. We apologise for any inconvenience or delay that this may cause.

Certificate Services Telephone Number

May we take this opportunity to remind you that the telephone number for enquiries about the service provided on the ground floor of the FRC or any other aspect of Certificate Services should be made to

0845 603 7788

Certificate Services Open Days

Many of you will be aware that for the last two years, Certificate Services at Southport has opened its doors to a limited number of our customers, enabling them to gain an insight into the processes involved in certificate production.

We hope to host further open days later in the Autumn. If you would like to be advised when dates are confirmed, please e-mail david.burgess.gov.uk, quoting CSS Open Days in the subject line.

GRO Open Forum at the FRC

Over the past 12 months the staff of GRO Southport have held 3 Open Forums in the Scotlink area giving customers the opportunity to ask questions about any aspect of the service provided at Southport.

The next forum will be held on Tuesday 12 March from 1pm to 7pm, again in the Scotlink.

Further information

If you would like more information about any of the items in this newsletter please telephone

020 8392 5300 or visit our website at:

www.familyrecords.gov.uk

To subscribe to the electronic version of the Family Record please send an email to:

FRC-Newsletter@pro.gov.uk

with the word 'Subscribe' in the subject heading.

The Family Record is jointly produced by the General Register Office (GRO) and the Public Record Office (PRO).