Registration Services

This summary policy explains how the information this service collects about you for registration purposes is used, and your rights in relation to that information.

Personal information collected from you to register an event is required by law. The main legislation which governs the collection of registration information is the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, the Marriage Act 1949 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004. You may be legally obliged by these acts, and other pieces of legislation, to provide certain pieces of information. If you fail to provide information you are required to give us you may, among other things, be liable to a fine.

Personal information may also be collected from you if you make an application to this office, for example for a certificate or to correct information contained in a register entry.

The information you provide will be held and processed by registration officers for this registration district. Registration information is retained indefinitely as required by law.

The superintendent registrar is a data controller for birth, marriage and death registrations and can be contacted at somersetregistrations@somerset.gov.uk. The local authority is a data controller for civil partnership registrations and you can email informationgovernance@somerset.gov.uk or phone 01823 359359 for more information.

The Registrar General for England and Wales is a joint data controller for birth, marriage, death and civil partnership registrations and can be contacted at:

The General Register Office,
Trafalgar Road,
Southport,
PR8 2HH.

A certified copy of any register entry will be provided by this office in accordance with the law to any applicant. This is provided they supply enough information to identify the entry concerned and pay the appropriate fee. An application for a certificate may also be made to the General Register Office.

Indexes for events registered at this office are publicly available to help members of the public identify the registration record they might need. Indexes are available to view by appointment only. Appointments can be made by contacting:

Somerset Register Office,
The Old Municipal Buildings,
Corporation Street,
Taunton
TA1 4AQ

Phone: 01823 282251
Or email somersetregistrations@somerset.gov.uk in the first instance.

Some Registration Services calls (inbound and outbound) will be recorded for quality monitoring and training purposes. Call recordings are retained for 12 months.

A copy of the information collected by a registration officer will also be sent to the Registrar General for England and Wales so that a central record of all registrations can be maintained.  Registration information held at this office may be shared with other organisations in the course of carrying out our functions, or to enable others to perform theirs.

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, to be informed about the collection and use of your personal information. And for incorrect information to be corrected (where the law permits) and to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information. In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. Your information will not be subjected to automated decision-making.

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about the way we are handling your personal information. Details on how you can do this can be found at Information Commissioner’s Office (IOC)