Amongst the issues examined by the Working Party on Electoral Procedures, which reported in October 1999, was the commercial sale of the electoral register. The Working Party recommended that the public should be informed as to the uses to which the electoral register might be put and allowed to opt out of being included in the register that is available for sale. A full version of the register would still be produced and used for electoral and law enforcement purposes and made available for local inspection. Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act 2000 gave effect to the Working Party s recommendations in this area. In particular, it allows regulations to be made restricting the supply of the electoral register.
Ministers are committed to making such regulations.
The draft regulations 3. The draft regulations will require electoral registration officers to produce two versions of the electoral register a full one and an edited version omitting the names and addresses of those persons who have asked to have their details excluded from it. The regulations will further require registration officers to supply copies of the full register to prescribed persons for specified purposes or to supply copies of the edited register to anyone without restrictions as to the uses to which it, or the information contained therein, is put. In this way the use to which the full register may be put will be limited, in broad terms, to electoral purposes and for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime, including financial crime such as fraud and money laundering. Only the edited register will be available for use for wider commercial purposes.