§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has any plans to introduce regulations that allow voters to opt out or opt in to the sale of their name and address from electoral registers; whether he has had discussions with the Data Protection Registrar concerning the sale of names and addresses from the electoral register; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonWe have no plans to introduce such regulations. The operation of the electoral registration system requires that all the information in the register should be freely available to the public. The provisions of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 1986 governing the publication and supply of the register reflect this fact and the conclusion that its use by commercial organisations could not effectively be prevented. The Data Protection Registrar was consulted before the introduction of the provisions in those regulations governing the sale of the electoral register in data form.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has any plans to introduce regulations to alert voters to the fact that their name and address are routinely disclosed from the electoral register for poll tax purposes; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonWe have no plans to do so.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has any plans to introduce regulations to protect voters who may be vulnerable to attack if their name and address appeared on an electoral register that is available for sale or inspection by the public; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonWe have no present plans to do so, but we shall continue to keep the position under careful review.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has provided guidance to electoral registration 871W officers concerning the privacy implications of the inspection or sale of the names and addresses from the electoral register without the knowledge or consent of the voter; whether his Department has studied the implications of linking copies of the electoral register information to that of the census or to other large databases; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Scottish Home and Health Department has issued guidance to electoral registration officers on the electoral registration process, including the inspection and sale of the register, but not specifically on questions of privacy. Individual census records will not be available for linkage to the electoral register or other large databases.
Region/Islands Area Number of domestic subjects at 1 April 1988 Total rateable value at 1 April 1988 of domestic subjects Gross domestic rate yield 1988–89 Adult population (18 and over) at June 1988 Under 18 population at June 1988 Borders 46,209 26,621,187 15,120,834 80,306 22,286 Central 107,162 68,128,907 47,622,106 207,278 64,248 Dumfries and Galloway 61,855 38,539,073 22,314,123 114,364 33,118 Fife 141,111 89,981,175 62,446,935 263,032 81,685 Grampian 207,913 131,750,260 73,384,895 383,216 118,178 Highland 85,953 45,603,970 28,730,501 151,663 50,203 Lothian 312,045 230,025,097 169,988,547 582,047 159,132 Strathclyde 926,810 611,761,080 474,114,837 1,766,910 549,829 Tayside 170,187 105,941,973 73,523,729 304,985 88,763 Orkney 8,108 2,621,357 1,258,251 14,822 4,633 Shetland 9,076 3,277,446 3,310,220 16,210 6,154 Western Isles 13,295 3,577,367 2,575,704 23,214 7,725