Citation, commencement and extent

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration Data Schemes) Regulations 2011.

2.  These Regulations come into force on the day after the day on which they are made.

3.  These Regulations do not extend to Northern Ireland.

Supply of electoral register for comparison

4.  For the purposes of a scheme included in an order made under section 35 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009(4) (schemes for provision of data to registration officers), a registration officer(5) may supply a copy of the whole or a part of the full register(6) to a person in Great Britain in order to enable that copy to be compared with information contained in records kept by a person who is authorised or required to provide information to that registration officer under the scheme.

5.  Where a copy of the whole or a part of the full register is supplied to a person under regulation 4, regulation 96(2) of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001(7) and regulation 95(2) of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001(8) (restriction on use of the full register, or information contained in it, supplied in accordance with enactments or obtained otherwise) are modified by inserting in each “with the consent of the registration officer and” after “other than”.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide that, where there is a scheme in an order made under section 35 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 authorising or requiring a person to provide information to an electoral registration officer, that officer may pass a copy of an electoral register that they have compiled (or part of it) to another person in order for the register to be compared with information kept by the person authorised or required to provide information under the scheme. Where a copy of the register is supplied to a person under these Regulations, that person may only supply the copy to another person, or use or disclose information contained in it which is not contained in the edited register, with the consent of the registration officer who supplied the copy.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen.