Consultation on a Proposed Bill Relating to Burial and Cremation and Other Related Matters in Scotland - Web Only

Burial and cremation records

54 The Burial and Cremation Review Group recommended that all records and forms pertaining to burial and cremation in Scotland should be maintained electronically wherever possible, and should be transferable electronically.

55 The Group made no mention of how long such records should be kept. The Scottish Government has published a Code of Practice for records management in NHS Scotland, and this provides some useful models for records retention.^[19] NHS records relating to the disposal of fetal remains should be kept for 30 years, as should records which relate to blood and tissue donation and forensic medicine, as well as mortuary records. However, CMO guidance on the disposal of pregnancy losses up to and including 23 weeks and 6 days gestation issued in July 2012 recommended that records relating to the disposal should be retained for a minimum of 30 years, but 50 years as good practice.^[20] The Infant Cremation Commission subsequently recommended that records relating to the cremation of any baby should be retained for a minimum of 50 years. However, the Cremation Register is to be kept in perpetuity (see paragraph 175), meaning that it may not be possible to create a permanent link between cremation records kept by Health Boards and the Cremation Register.

56 As such, the Scottish Government is seeking views on whether all burial and cremation records should be retained for a minimum of 50 years, whether in hard copy or electronically, as advised by the CMO guidance, or whether they should be stored indefinitely. Apart from the Cremation Register, the majority of such forms will be those kept by Health Boards.

57 The Commission also recommended that a working group should be established to consider the development of greater consistency, security and best practice in the electronic processing and storage of cremation records. Given the wider context of this consultation, it is proposed that this group should also consider burial records, as well as any other methods of disposing of human remains that might be introduced in Scotland.

Q20 - Do you agree that records and forms relating to burial and cremation in Scotland should be stored and transferred electronically wherever possible? Should any exclusions apply? Should this be applied to all forms of disposing of human remains in Scotland?

Q21 - Should records and forms relating to burial and cremation be kept for 50 years or is it better that they are kept indefinitely?