18Registers of sight-impaired, hearing-impaired and other disabled people
(1)A local authority must establish and maintain a register of the people ordinarily resident in the authority’s area who—
(a)are sight-impaired or severely sight-impaired,
(b)are hearing-impaired or severely hearing-impaired, or
(c)have sight and hearing impairments which, in combination, have a significant effect on their day to day lives.
(2)The register must identify, in respect of each person included in the register—
(a)the paragraph in subsection (1) within which that person falls, and
(b)the person’s linguistic circumstances.
(3)Regulations may specify, for the purposes of subsection (1), categories of people who are, or are not, to be treated as falling within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of that subsection.
(4)A local authority must establish and maintain a register of children to whom subsection (6) applies and who are within the local authority’s area.
(5)A local authority may establish and maintain a register of adults to whom subsection (6) applies and who are ordinarily resident in the local authority’s area.
(6)This subsection applies to a person who—
(a)is disabled,
(b)is not disabled but has a physical or mental impairment which gives rise, or which the authority considers may in the future give rise, to needs for care and support, or
(c)comes within any other category of persons the authority considers appropriate to include in a register of persons who have, or who the authority considers may in the future have, needs for care and support.
(7)A local authority—
(a)may categorise people included in a register under subsection (4) or (5) as it thinks fit, and
(b)must identify the linguistic circumstances of those people in the relevant register.
(8)The registers established and maintained under this section may be used in the exercise of the authority’s functions; for example, for the purpose of—
(a)planning the provision by the authority of services to meet needs for care and support or support for carers, and
(b)monitoring changes over time in the number of people in the authority’s area with needs for care and support and the types of needs they or their carers have.
(9)Nothing in this section requires a local authority to include any person in a register maintained under this section unless—
(a)the person has applied to be included in the register, or
(b)an application to be so included has been made on the person’s behalf.
(10)Where a local authority includes a person in a register maintained under this section, the authority—
(a)must inform the person that he or she has been so included, and
(b)if a request is made by the person or on the person’s behalf, must remove from the register any personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998) relating to that person.