I thought that the group would be interested in the advice that I have been
given by the DPC Compliance Dept.
"I am afraid that first of all I must correct your understanding of the role
of a local authority. The person charge with maintaining the electoral
roll is a legally independent person, namely the Electoral Registration
Officer, who must make his or her own notification under the Data Protection
Act. A local authority is not permitted to include the work of the ERO
within its own notification. The Home Office has recently confirmed this
in connection with notification regulations made under the Data Protection
Act 1998 where it was suggested to them that as a matter of administrative
convenience local authorities should be allowed to notify the purposes for
which the ERO collects personal data. The Home Office was clear that this
was not acceptable.
This having been said, the ERO is largely exempt from the notification
requirements of the Act. In so far as he or she is required to notify it
is for purposes unconnected with the compilation of the electoral roll
itself, in particular for the compilation of those eligible for jury
service.
There are currently no restrictions upon the use of the electoral roll,
however, and thus there is no objection to a local authority making use of
the electoral roll. The only possible restriction is in the placing of the
whole electoral roll on the Internet, and thus allowing access on a world
wide basis.
At the same time you should be aware of the fact that Parliament has
recently enacted a new Representation of the People's Act. Under this Act
there is an order making power for the Secretary of State allowing him to
restrict some uses of the electoral roll. It is thought likely that this
will affect the commercial exploitation of the electoral roll, perhaps
allowing individual voters to opt out of the use of their data for marketing
or credit referencing purposes. We will, however, have to await sight of
draft orders before being able to comment in an authoritative way upon this
matter."
It would appear that access to the electoral roll can be totally
unrestricted at present.
After this communication I contacted the DPC Compliance Dept. and asked
whether they could contribute to/monitor discussions in this group, as their
advice conflicted some what with the advice in the group. The reply was that
they did not have direct internet and e-mail access and therefore it would
be difficult (£80.00 for a 56k modem connected to a free ISP might solve
that one!?).
With so little funding for the DPC and the obvious high workload they have
to contend with how is data protection ever going to be taken seriously? The
members of this group and others do take it seriously I would suggest, but
it becomes increasingly difficult to convince some individuals that data
protection is an issue that concerns them.
Paul Lightowlers (Lead Business Analyst),
Teignbridge District Council,
Forde House,
Newton Abbot,
England,
TQ12 4XX
Tel. (01626) 361101 Fax. (01626) 334620
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