§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on his plans to allow local authorities to sell electoral registers to third parties. [54590]
§ Mr. RaynsfordWe have today published a policy paper and draft regulations setting out the Government's intentions for regulations making provision about access to and sale and supply of electoral registers.
The approach we are adopting strikes a balance between the individual elector's right to privacy and the needs of others to receive the data to carry out their functions. There will be two versions of the register, the 449W data in which will have been compulsorily obtained—a full one, and an edited one containing particulars about only those electors who have not requested that their details be removed from the edited register.
The full register will be available for electoral purposes, for law enforcement and crime prevention and for other purposes where there is a strong public interest in preserving availability. These include checking identity for credit purposes. The edited register will be available for sale to anyone for any purpose.
Both the policy statement and the draft regulations have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and on the internet for public comment on the regulations. Our aim, subject to parliamentary approval, is to make the regulations to have effect from the 2002 canvass.