Political Parties and Elections Bill

Electoral officers concur with the view expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Rennard. In a survey, 98 per cent indicated that they would like the law to be changed to abolish the edited register that councils have to sell to direct marketing companies. Eighty-eight per cent believe that the current system deters people from voting. On average, councils raise around £1,900 a year from selling the register, which does not go nearly far enough to recover the costs of producing the edited register. This matter needs to be looked at. Moreover, in July the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, and Mark Walport, director of medical charity the Wellcome Trust, examined this issue in their data sharing review. They said: ""The edited register is available for sale to anyone for any purpose. Its main clients are direct marketing companies and companies compiling directories. Members of the public can choose to have their details omitted from the edited register by ticking a box on their electoral registration or annual canvass form. Currently around 40 per cent of those registered to vote across the UK opt out in this way. However, the language used on these forms can be confusing, and many people do not realise it is the edited register that is on public sale.""In any event, we feel that selling the edited register is an unsatisfactory way for local authorities to treat personal information. It sends a particularly poor message to the public that personal information collected for something as vital as participation in the democratic process can be sold to ‘anyone for any purpose’"." That extract links two elements in the Bill; namely, financing, campaigning and funding, which we debated energetically, and the integrity of, and participation in, the voting system. Some, for example the Local Government Association, believe that we should simply get rid of the edited electoral register. That view is probably also held by the Information Commissioner, although he has not explicitly stated it. That option is expressed in Amendment 124 in the name of my noble friend Lord Norton. The more measured Amendment 122, standing in my name and those of my noble friends Lord Henley and Lord Norton of Louth, simply says that people ought to be able to opt into the edited electoral register. We discussed that principle earlier in relation to other aspects of party financing. I shall be interested to hear the Minister’s response to these reasonable amendments that have garnered cross-party support.