Brian Iddon MP Caught in the Act

Dr Brian Iddon, Member of Parliament for Bolton South East, was elected to Parliament on 1 May 1997. Prior to the General Election, Brian had been a Director of Bolton City Challenge, which was responsible for moving the Registration Office for births, marriages and deaths out of Paderborn House to Mere Hall.

“Indeed, I think I proposed the idea to Bob Howarth, who was Leader of the Council at that time and Chairman of Bolton City Challenge Board”, said Brian.

“Getting married in Paderborn House was not exactly the right setting. Mere Hall provides much better surroundings for photographs, and there is free parking there too. My eldest daughter Sally chose to be one of the first brides to be married at Mere Hall. The only trouble was that it was bang in the middle of my General Election in April 1997.”

Brian’s involvement with Mere Hall led the Chief Superintendent of the day, Oliver Barton, to propose him as Patron of the Society of Registration Officers (SORO) in England and Wales, a post that he will hold until the end of the present Parliamentary Session. He has represented their interests in Parliament for more than 10 years. Brian succeeded Joyce Quin (then Member of Parliament for Gateshead East and Washington, and now Baroness Quin), who became Prisons Minister in the Home Office after the 1997 General Election.

“I soon realised that I had taken on an important fight. As Statutory Officers, with no official employer, Registration Officers had no right to go to an Employment Tribunal should they be unfairly dismissed. One of the first rights that we won for them was the right of appeal against unfair dismissal, made by the Registrar General, but they could only appeal if there was new evidence, and only to the Registrar General. Since then, I have campaigned to have their status changed and, last year, after several unsuccessful attempts using other routes, I tried to win them this status by steering a Private Members Bill, The Registration Service Bill (a Ten Minute Rule Bill), through Parliament.”

Brian’s attempts were blocked in Parliament by the late Conservative MP Eric Forth just before he died.

“I continued to lobby my Treasury colleagues, and John Healy, then Financial Secretary at the Treasury, agreed to take on my Bill as part of the Statistics Bill”.

The Statistics and Registration Service Act was published a few days ago. Brian presented a copy of his Private Members Bill and this new Act of Parliament to Oliver Barton and the present Manager of the Civil Registration Service at Mere Hall, Andrea Fitton, on Tuesday 28 August at 12.00 noon.

“This ten-year campaign started at Mere Hall, so I thought it appropriate that it should end there too”, said Brian.

"The Civil Registration Service is undergoing its first major reform since 1837, and it is important that the employment rights of Registration Officers are protected as they become Local Government employees”.

This is the second piece of legislation that Brian has been responsible for. He successfully steered through the Marine Safety Act 2003, as a Private Members Bill, which allows the Secretary of State’s (for Transport; currently Ruth Kelly) Representative (SOSREP)(Robin Middleton) to save lives at sea and prevent pollution.