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 The IPS Digitisation project
What is the digitisation project ?
In 2005, Siemens IT Solutions were awarded a three year contract to undertake the digitisation of birth, death and marriage records for England and Wales from 1837 to 2006. The Siemens contract expired and was not renewed in July 2008. At that point the Digitisation of Vital Events (DoVE) project was closed, as was the MAGPIE project which was intended to provide online access to the digitised indexes. The work has been in a "pause and review" stage since July 2008.
What happened next?
The Identity and Passport (IPS) Management Board arranged for a review of the options available to complete the digitisation work. After considering the results of that review, they directed the development of a business case to provide further detail.
How many records have been digitised so far?
Over 130 million records have been digitised, namely the birth records from 1837 to 1935 and the death records from 1837 to 1957; this is approximately half of the total number of GRO records of birth, death and marriage. These are the record types most requested by members of the public applying to GRO for copies of certificates, often for the purposes of family history research.
What has happened to these records?
The digitised records are now being used by GRO within a system known as EAGLE (Electronic Access to GRO Legacy Events). The use of digitised records in handling certificate applications enables a quicker and more efficient system to be used for identifying and printing certificates. As well as a database and image store the EAGLE system also allows for the recording and tracking of customer orders.
What is happening at present?
IPS need to ensure that the project remains viable and will deliver both service improvements to our customers and value for money for the taxpayer. The project business case is currently being considered by IPS senior managers, and a further announcement will be made following completion of this approvals process.
Where can I get further information?
Further updates will be published on this website as information becomes available.
Source: Identity & Passport Service
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