Social Security Act 1975

Other administrative provisions

160Provisions relating to age, death and marriage

(1)Regulations made by the Registrar General under section 20 of the [1953 c. 37.] Registration Service Act 1953 or section 54 of the [1965 c. 49.] Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965 may provide for the furnishing by superintendent registrars and registrars, subject to the payment of such fee as may be prescribed by the regulations, of such information for the purposes of this Act, including copies or extracts from the registers in their custody, as may be so prescribed.

(2)Where the age, marriage or death of a person is required to be ascertained or proved for the purposes of this Act, any person shall—

(a)on presenting to the custodian of the register under the enactments relating to the registration of births, marriages and deaths, wherein particulars of the birth, marriage or death (as the case may be) of the first mentioned person are entered, a duly completed requisition in writing in that behalf; and

(b)on payment of a fee of 15 pence,

be entitled to obtain a copy, certified under the hand of the custodian, of the entry of those particulars.

(3)Requisitions for the purposes of subsection (2) above shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may from time to time be specified by the Registrar General, and suitable forms thereof shall, on request, be supplied without charge by superintendent registrars and registrars.

(4)In this section as it applies to England and Wales, " Registrar General" means the Registrar General for England and Wales, and " superintendent registrar " and " registrar " mean a superintendent registrar or, as the case may be, registrar for the purposes of the enactments relating to the registration of births, deaths and marriages; and as it applies to Scotland—

(a)" Registrar General" means the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland ;

(b)references to superintendent registrars shall be omitted ; and

(c)" registrar " means a district registrar, senior registrar or assistant registrar for the purposes of the enactments relating to the registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland.

161Furnishing of addresses for maintenance proceedings, etc.

(1)The Secretary of State may incur expenses for the purpose of furnishing the address at which a man or woman is recorded by him as residing, where the address is required for the purpose of taking or carrying on legal proceedings to obtain or enforce an order for the making by the man or woman of payments—

(a)for the maintenance of the man's wife or former wife, or the woman's husband or former husband; or

(b)for the maintenance or education of any person as being the son or daughter of the man or his wife or former wife, or of the woman or her husband or former husband.

(2)In subsection (1)(b) above " son or daughter " includes a son or daughter by adoption and an illegitimate son or daughter.

162Treatment of certain marriages

Regulations may provide—

(a)for a voidable marriage which has been annulled, whether before or after the date when the regulations come into force, to be treated for the purposes of such provisions of, or of any regulations under, this Act, subject to such exceptions or conditions as may be prescribed, as if it had been a valid marriage which was terminated by divorce at the date of annulment;

(b)as to the circumstances in which, for the purposes of this Act—

(i)a marriage celebrated under a law which permits polygamy, or

(ii)any marriage during the subsistence of which a party to it is at any time married to more than one person,

is to be treated as having, or not having, the consequences of a marriage celebrated under a law which does not permit polygamy;

and regulations made for the purposes of subsection (b) above may make different provision in relation to different purposes and circumstances.

163Exemption from stamp duty

Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any document authorised by virtue of this Act or otherwise required in order to give effect to this Act or in connection with any description of business thereunder.

164Disclosure of information by Inland Revenue

(1)No obligation as to secrecy imposed by statute or otherwise on persons employed in relation to Inland Revenue shall prevent information obtained in connection with the assessment or collection of income tax under Schedule E from being disclosed to the Secretary of State or the Northern Ireland Department, or to an officer of either of them authorised to receive such information, in connection with the operation of any enactment relating to the calculation or collection of contributions under this Act or the [1975 c. 15.] Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975, or the payment of benefit under either of those enactments.

(2)Subsection (1) above extends only to disclosure by or under the authority of the Inland Revenue; and information which is the subject of disclosure to any person by virtue of that subsection shall not be further disclosed to any other person, except where the further disclosure is made—

(a)to a person to whom disclosure could by virtue of this section have been made by or under the authority of the Inland Revenue ; or

(b)for the purposes of any proceedings (civil or criminal) in connection with the operation of any enactment relating to the calculation or collection of contributions under this Act or the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975, or the payment of benefit thereunder; or

(c)for any purposes of Part III of this Act or Part III of that Act.

165Deputy Government Actuary

Anything which under any provision of this Act is authorised or required to be done by the Government Actuary may be done instead by the Deputy Government Actuary; and references to the Government Actuary shall be construed accordingly.