Representation of the People Act 2000

9 Restriction on supply of information contained in register

(1) Schedule 2 to the 1983 Act (provisions which may be contained in regulations as to registration) is amended as follows.

(2) For paragraphs 10 and 11 there shall be substituted—

“10(1) Provisions requiring a registration officer to prepare, in addition to the version of the register which he is required to prepare by virtue of the other provisions of this Act (“the full register”), a version of the register which omits the names and addresses of registered electors by or on behalf of whom requests have been made to have their names and addresses excluded from that version of it (“the edited register”).

(2) Provisions specifying a form of words to be used by a registration officer for the purpose of—

(a) explaining to persons registered or applying to be registered, or persons acting on behalf of such persons, the purposes for which the full register and the edited register may each be used, and

(b) ascertaining whether the exclusion of their names and addresses from the edited register is requested by or on behalf of such persons.

10A Provisions requiring copies of the full register and other documents, or prescribed parts of them, to be available for inspection by the public at such places as may be prescribed.

10B(1) Provisions authorising or requiring a registration officer—

(a) to supply to such persons as may be prescribed copies of the full register and other documents, or prescribed parts of them, whether free of charge or on payment of a prescribed fee;

(b) to supply to any persons copies of the edited register, or any prescribed part of it, on payment of a prescribed fee.

(2) Provisions specifying, in relation to any description of persons prescribed by regulations made in pursuance of sub-paragraph (1)(a) above, the purposes for which copies supplied to such persons under such regulations, or information contained in them, may be used whether by such persons or by employees or other persons authorised by them in accordance with regulations to have access to such copies or information contained in them.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (1) above or paragraph 11A below, regulations made in pursuance of sub-paragraph (1) may contain any such provisions as are authorised by paragraph 11A.

11(1) Provisions imposing prohibitions or restrictions relating to the extent (if any) to which—

(a) persons inspecting the full register in accordance with regulations made in pursuance of paragraph 10A above may make copies of the register;

(b) persons to whom copies of the full register are supplied (whether in accordance with regulations made in pursuance of paragraph 10B above or in accordance with any other provision made by or under an Act) may—

(i) supply those copies, or otherwise disclose any information contained in them, to other persons, or

(ii) make use of any such information otherwise than for any purposes specified in such regulations or (as the case may be) for which the copies have been supplied in accordance with any such provision.

(2) Provisions imposing, in relation to persons—

(a) to whom copies of the full register have been supplied, or information contained in such copies has been disclosed, in accordance with regulations made in pursuance of this paragraph, or

(b) who otherwise have access to such copies or information,

prohibitions or restrictions corresponding to those which may be imposed by virtue of sub-paragraph (1) above.

(3) Provisions imposing, in relation to persons involved in the preparation of the full register, prohibitions with respect to supplying copies of the full register and disclosing information contained in it.

(4) In this paragraph any reference to the full register includes a reference to any part of it.”

(3) In paragraph 13 (offences and supplemental matters), after sub-paragraph (1) there shall be inserted—

“(1A) Provisions making it an offence (punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale)—

(a) for a person to contravene any regulations made in pursuance of paragraph 11 above or to do so in any prescribed circumstances, or

(b) where such a contravention has occurred on the part of a person in the employment, or otherwise under the direction or control, of a company or other organisation, for—

(i) a director of the company, or

(ii) a person concerned with the management of the organisation,

to have failed to take such steps as it was reasonable for him to take to secure the operation of procedures designed to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, the occurrence of such contraventions on the part of such persons.”