§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will publish in theOfficial Report the recent letter from the Data Protection Registrar concerning the community charge, together with his response; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangI have today placed in the Library copies of the registrar's letter of 17 November 1987 and my response of 18 January 1988.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will list those organisations which will not be allowed to obtain copies of the community charge register; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangUnder section 20(2)(b) and (c) of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987, access to the full community charges register is restricted to local authorities for the purpose of determining levying and collecting the community charges, and to assessors and electoral registration officers.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether the community charge officer will be able to access sources of information other than those data held by a local authority; and if he will make a statement;
325W(2) whether the community charge officer will have access to non-clinical records held by health authorities when compiling the register; and if he will make a statement;
(3) whether Scottish community charge officers will be able to use the data collected during the next census; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangUnder section 17(2) and (3) of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987, community charges registration officers will have access, for the purpose of discharging their functions, to information held by the assessor or registration officer for their area and, on request, to information held by local authorities or housing bodies in their area, or other registration officers. The Act gives registration officers no other general right of access to information.
Under section 17(5) of the Act, registration officers are able to require responsible persons to give them information in respect of premises in their area. In certain circumstances, local authorities and health boards may be responsible persons for this purpose. The information which may be requested is limited to that prescribed for the purposes of section 17(5). Otherwise, registration officers will have no access to information held by health boards. Under no circumstances will they have access to census information.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what advice he will be giving to prisoners just before their release as to their responsibility to pay the community charge from their first day of freedom; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what advice he will be giving to homeless persons which describes their responsibility to pay the community charge; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangMy right hon. and learned Friend has launched a public information campaign to help ensure that all future community charge payers are aware of their obligations under the new system.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he intends to introduce regulations obliging the community charge officer to seek the consent of individuals as to whether they want their name and address on the community charge register to be sold; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LangI refer to the answer I gave on 3 November 1987 at columns550–551. My right hon. and learned Friend is still considering whether any amendment to section 20(4) of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc (Scotland) Act 1987 is required to provide for any restriction on the parts of the public register which may be made available for sale.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what precautions he is taking to ensure that addresses of members of the armed forces, security services or other public figures who may be at risk do not appear on the community charge register; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. IngramTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has given any instructions or advice to the Scottish new town development corporations on the implementation of the poll tax; and if he will make a statement.
326W
§ Mr. Lang[holding answer 26 January 1988]: My officials have had discussions in the last few months with representatives from Scottish new towns about the implementation of the community charge and in addition the new towns have received copies of the consultation drafts of regulations which have been issued. The role which new towns, as housing bodies, may play in implementing the community charge will depend on the nature of any agency agreement reached by them with the levying authority, the regional council.