Gender Equality Scheme

4. About the General Register Office for Scotland

4.1 The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) is a Government Department established by Act of Parliament in 1854. We are an Associated Department of the Scottish Executive (SE) and we form part of the Scottish Administration. Our statistical operations form part of the Government Statistical Service and we prepare our main statistical products in line with National Statistics procedures.

4.2 The fundamental aim of GROS is to work with Scottish Ministers to improve the well-being of Scotland and its people by collecting, processing, safeguarding and making available information about Scotland’s people in a useful, responsible and efficient way.

4.3 To enable us to meet our aim, GROS is organised into four Divisions: Census Division; Demography Division; Registration Division; and Corporate Services Division. The general responsibilities of these Divisions are as follows:

Census Division:

to make arrangements for taking periodic Censuses of Scotland’s population; and
statistical methodology and geography.

Demography Division:

to prepare and publish demographic and other statistics; and
to maintain the National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR) of patients in Scotland.

Registration Division:

to administer civil registration of vital events – births and deaths, plus marriages, civil partnerships, divorces and adoptions and the statutes relating to the formalities of marriage and the conduct of civil marriage; and
to make available public records about individuals.

Corporate Services Division:

to provide financial, procurement, accommodation, IT, learning and other support for the Department.

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