Birth certificates will no longer exist within five years, as plans for an electronic births, deaths and marriages registration system are rolled out.

The Digitisation of Vital Events (Dove) project run by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) includes the creation of a national database, a web-based access system and links to other government departments.

The database will include the 100 million records going back to 1935 and will replace the current system of face-to-face registration and paper ledgers.

'The ultimate aim in the long term is to do away with the need for having a paper birth certificate, the information will all be there electronically and publicly available as it is now,' said a spokesman for ONS.

Citizens will no longer need a birth certificate because government bodies will be able to automatically check the electronic system. Planned links include the Department for Education and Skills, the UK Passport Service (UKPS), the NHS, the Department for Work and Pensions, the DVLA, Inland Revenue, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and the proposed ID cards and citizen information projects.

The database will also automatically update departments' internal systems so, for example, bereaved citizens will no longer have to send death certificates to so many different places, says the ONS.

The register will be accessible online and citizens registering a birth, death or marriage will have a choice of doing so face-to-face, over the telephone or online.

Birth registrations by registrars are planned to be up and running by February 2006 and online birth registrations by the public by the end of that year. The plan for the registration of deaths has not yet been finalised as the implications of the inquiry into the Harold Shipman murders has not yet been fully worked through.

Suppliers interested in the deal, which some estimate to be worth £25-50m over its seven-year life, have until 6 September to submit their initial proposals. The contract is expected to be signed in February.

A pilot exercise with UKPS has already taken place and another trial is planned with the Inland Revenue.