Section 37 Registration districts and authorities
73.Prior to the Act there were 230 Registration Districts (RDs) in Scotland. The RDs sometimes matched the area covered by one of the 32 local councils (a large example was the City of Glasgow; a smaller one Clackmannanshire). More often, the local council was responsible for more than one RD. In some cases, for historical reasons, a single RD overlapped a council boundary and included the territory of 2 or more councils. It was not always obvious to the citizen where the birth of a baby should be registered or in which RD the death of a relative had occurred. Subsection (2) therefore amends the 1965 Act by providing that each local authority area is a registration district and that the relevant local authority is the local registration authority. Subsection (3) repeals the current provision for a local authority or local authorities to alter the boundaries of their registration districts – these will simply be the local authority area. Subsections (4) to (6) make changes to the administrative provisions on senior and district registrars and other staff, registration offices and area repositories in the 1965 Act which are consequential on the changes in subsections (2) and (3). Section 37 came into force on 1st January 2007.