§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from chief constables as to which constabularies use the electoral register to assist in the identification of individuals.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNo. It is common practice for police officers to refer to the electoral register to assist in verifying addresses or to help to locate people, but it would be of limited value in identifying individuals.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from chief constables as to which constabularies use or plan to use the electoral register in machine readable form for operational purposes.
§ Mr. Giles ShawNo. I am not aware that any constabulary uses or plans to use the electoral register in machine readable form but, if the police were to obtain copies, the use of the data would be subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984 in the same way as any other data they hold.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he plans to modify current data protection practices in relation to the use of the electoral register in machine readable form; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. MellorNo. Under the Data Protection Act 1984 any person to whom the electoral registration officer supplies the electoral register in computer-compatible form will be required to register the data with the Data Protection Registrar. He will also be required to comply with the eight data protection principles set out in schedule 1 to the Act. The Data Protection Registrar has power to investigate any breach of these principles and to enforce compliance with them.