Electoral Administration Bill

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, for his welcome for the amendment, and I will respond to the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, to whom I pay great tribute for having included discussion on his amendment with this one. I am very pleased to be able to put that on the record. The noble Lord will know that we have already had the opportunity to discuss this matter. At present, people have to opt out of the register but, as the noble Lord said, one is never really sure whether people positively use that opportunity or whether some people simply do not read the form. I know that the noble Lord feels passionately about the importance of the register and of it being used for its prime purpose. The noble Lord knows, too, that many organisations—businesses and charities—rely very heavily on accessing a huge amount of data about people in order to write to them. I would be concerned about making any change without having the opportunity to consult such organisations as I genuinely do not have the faintest idea what the impact could be. It could be quite severe. It could affect small businesses detrimentally, and it could affect charities which send out mailings, particularly at times of crisis, and receive responses from people who might otherwise not be reached. As the noble Lord said, it is right that increasingly there is a move towards opting in. One sees this increasingly when purchases are made on the internet: you have to say positively that you would like to be on the mailing list, as opposed to having to remember to tick a box not to be on the list. That certainly seems to be the direction of travel as I see this issue in the context of data protection. I shall consider this matter carefully with my colleagues from the Department of Trade and Industry and shall be carrying out some kind of consultation. At this stage, I am not sure whether it will be formal or informal, but I shall get some idea of the impact and implications. I shall keep the noble Lord fully informed about that because I know that it is an area of great interest to him. I hope to be able to come back to him shortly—perhaps formally in writing with a copy in the Library of the House so that other noble Lords can see where we have got to. On Question, amendment agreed to.