'(1) The Registrar General for England and Wales or the Registrar General for Northern Ireland may supply information contained in any register of deaths kept by him—

(a) to a police force in the United Kingdom,

(b) to a special police force,

(c) to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, or

(d) to a person or body specified, or of a description specified, by order,

for use in the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of offences.

(2) The power to make an order under subsection (1)(d) is exercisable—

(a) in relation to England and Wales, by the Registrar General for England and Wales with the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequer;

(b) in relation to Northern Ireland, by the Secretary of State after consulting the Registrar General for Northern Ireland.

(3) A Registrar General may charge a reasonable fee in respect of the cost of supplying information under this section.

(4) The supply of information in the exercise of the power conferred by subsection (1) may be made subject to conditions, including in particular conditions as to—

(a) the use and storage of the information;

(b) the period for which any record of the information may be retained;

(c) those to whom the information may be disclosed.

(5) This section does not limit the circumstances in which information may be supplied apart from this section.

(6) In this section "special police force" means—

(a) the Ministry of Defence Police;

(b) the British Transport Police Force;

(c) the Civil Nuclear Constabulary;

(d) the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.'. — [Mr. Byrne.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments Nos. 44, 48 and 80.

The purpose of the new clause is to give registrars general in England, Wales and Northern Ireland the statutory authority to share death registration information with the police, special police forces, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and other organisations specified by order, for use in the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of offences.

The primary purpose of the supply of such information is to allow the police and other organisations to identify attempts to perpetrate fraud by using the personal details of those who have recently died. The new clause will help us not only to combat such fraud but to mitigate the impact on recently bereaved relatives, who have to deal with the consequences of the identity of their loved ones being stolen.

I join others in congratulating my hon. Friend on his appointment as deputy Home Secretary. How will the new clause affect the review of the coroner service? It aims to improve the way in which death certification and the service operate.

If my hon. Friend will permit me, I shall ensure that I have chapter and verse about that before I write to him with a full and thorough answer.

Death registration information is in the public domain as soon as a death is registered. Any person can obtain a copy of an entry in a death register in the form of a certificate, provided he or she can identify the entry and pay the statutory fee for the certificate. However, under current statutory provisions, it is available neither quickly enough to those organisations with an interest in preventing and detecting fraud involving the identity of a deceased person nor in a format that would assist them for those purposes.

Identity crime is increasing. The UK's fraud prevention service estimates that there were 70,000 instances of fraud involving the identity of a deceased person in 2004, at a cost to our economy of £300 million. At the current rate of growth, that figure is forecast to reach 100,000 instances a year by 2007.

The new clause and consequential amendments will allow us to stem the predicted increase by allowing registrars general in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to supply death registration information to specific organisations as soon as it becomes available to them. They will also be able to supply it in a format that can be used effectively by the police and others to help detect any attempt to use the identity of a deceased person.

All the evidence supports the proposition that the most effective use of that information is in the period immediately following a death. Administrative arrangements will be in place to monitor the supply and use of the information. There will also be sanctions for its misuse—for example, the suspension of the supply of information.

I thank my hon. Friend for his generosity in giving way a second time and I am grateful for his statement that he will write to me. Legislation on the new coroner service will be introduced this year. Is he satisfied that full consultation has taken place with the Department for Constitutional Affairs on the issues that we are considering? They have a direct impact on the work of the coroner service.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that. I am advised that the proposals to release death registration information will follow completion of the death registration process and should not, therefore, affect other proposals for the processes and procedures prior to the registration.

Administrative arrangements will be put in place to monitor the supply and use of information. The ultimate sanction available to registrars general, should the information be misused, is the ability to withdraw the supply of information.

Amendments Nos. 44, 48 and 80 are consequential on the new clause, which I commend to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.