Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Registrar General's Department (RGD), Dr. Patricia Holness, has reported that there was an 18 per cent increase in the demand for all types of documents processed by the department in 2006/07.

Speaking at a recent JIS 'Think Tank', Dr. Holness said that the increase resulted from the "significant change in the demand level in our country for all types of records from the RGD."

The agency saw some 600,000 customers during the 2006/07 financial year and received payment for approximately 348,000 applications. Of that number, 339,000 customers were satisfied and 348,000 certificates were delivered.

"We had 100 per cent of our certified copies that were paid for delivered and for our satisfaction level we achieved 97 per cent," she emphasised.

"We found on many occasions that persons were not very active in ensuring that all these documents were available and when they were required to produce them, they had to resort to one of our offices," the CEO added.

More conscious

Dr. Holness noted that there were many individuals who were now more conscious of the whole matter of identity and were aiming to ensure that the information on all their records correlate. "So, we find that synchronising family records have also produced an additional demand," she said.

According to the CEO, the demand for the RGD's services was also evident overseas. "We have found on our overseas outreaches that there are a large number of persons who are requiring our services, particularly for estate matters," she said.

Additionally, she pointed out that there were many pensioners who were being required by the international community to produce documents for retirement purposes and for pension documentation and, "we [expect] the demand in this particular area to be some 200,000 individuals."

She also noted that a number of persons were seeking to research their family history using the agency's genealogical research service. This, she said, was also used to trace the history of certain types of diseases within the family.

Outreach programmes

Dr. Holness told JIS News that the agency would continue its local and overseas outreach programmes throughout the year in order to ensure that its services were accessible to all Jamaicans.

On Wednesday April 18, the RGD mobile team will be at the St. Thomas Technical High School, Golden Grove, St. Thomas, from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The team will visit the Donald Quarrie High School in Kingston on Thursday, April 19 between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Persons are being encouraged to use this opportunity to submit their applications for all documents as well as have their questions answered.