§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy of the Metropolitan police towards disclosure to the Data Protection Registrar of the use of electoral registers in machine-readable form.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that use by the Metropolitan police of electoral registers in machine-readable form would be subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984 in the same way as any other machine-readable data held by the Metropolitan police, and would be registered accordingly.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will take steps to include on the form for registration as an elector a statement that the voter's personal data will be disclosed to any organisation which pays the appropriate fee.
§ Mr. MellorNo.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he is giving to the police about whether the use of electoral registers in machine readable form should be disclosed to the Data Protection Registrar.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNo specific guidance has been given to the police about whether the use of electoral registers in machine-readable form should be disclosed to the Data Protection Registrar. However, as I explained to the hon. Member in an answer to his earlier question on this matter on 28 October, if the police were to obtain copies of the electoral register in machine-readable form, the use of this data would be subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984 in the same way as any other data they hold.