Records of the General Register Office, Government Social Survey Department, and Office of Population Censuses and SurveysRG 711953-1999General Register Office and successors: Statistics Division and successors: Primary Births Datasets
Information in the Primary Births datasets includes the date and location of the registration of birth, where the birth occurred, the sex of the child, whether born inside or outside of marriage, date of birth, and number of births in cases of multiple births. Additional information relating to stillbirths is held including the duration of pregnancy, birth weight, cause of death, and who certified the death. Further information has included the occupation, status and industry of the working parent.
The Annual Primary births data held by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) contains confidential information which is obtained and recorded as required under the Population Statistics Acts of 1938, 1960 and 1968 at the same time that the particulars relating to live and still births are recorded by the Registrar. This information is not entered in the register and is used only for statistical purposes. Although this data forms part of the dataset at ONS, it is unlikely to come to be transferred as it is covered by the Population Statistics Act and is confidential.
Codes: Much of the data in the Primary births datasets has been encoded. These include codes for the district or area in which the birth was registered and are assigned to the usual residence of the mother. Occupation and employment status are encoded according to the 'Classification of Occupations 1960' and 'Classification of Occupations 1970'. These codes indicate the occupation, employment status of the working parent, and their social class or industry of working parent. Other miscellaneous coding includes those for entries on the stillbirth forms relating to whether or not the cause of death has been confirmed by post-mortem and of certification i.e. by registered medical practitioner, by coroner, or uncertified by either. The International Classifications of Diseases (ICD), version 7 and 8 were used for the classification of cause of death for still-births.