I am glad to have the opportunity to raise the disgraceful position in the births, deaths and marriages register office in Joyce House, Lombard Street. It is extraordinary that people must queue for hours on end for this service. I understand that as many as 50 people frequently queue in the rain outside the office with the same number of people waiting inside. People arrive at 7.30 a.m. to register or to get documents which many of them require urgently. The office is turning people away and staff are unable to cope.
The workload in the births, deaths and marriages register office has increased following a number of legislative changes introduced by the House. If legislative changes are made, resources should be provided to those who must implement them. There have been changes in relation to notification of marriage and changes in the format of birth certificates. This means there is further demand on the service. It is obvious the staff cannot meet the demands on the office at present. It is unfair to consumers and staff at a time when emphasis is placed on giving consumers quality services. It is unacceptable that people must wait so long, that there are inadequate facilities to deal with them and the office opening hours must be restricted due to lack of staff.
The office opening hours are 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 2.15 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. The staff must close the office at these hours to deal with postal queries which take up to six weeks at this stage. People often want certificates in a hurry for a variety of reasons. I was recently approached by a person whose son was getting married in Eastern Europe and who needed the long version of his birth certificate in a short time because it needed to be translated. However, he was told it would take six weeks by post.
It is unacceptable that a public service office is giving this type of response to consumers. I ask the Minister to immediately allocate extra staff to deal with the problem and to give citizens a proper service. The current situation is unfair to consumers and staff.