The Representation of the People (Supply of Information) Regulations 2014

Draft Regulations laid before Parliament under section 201(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, for approval by resolution of each House of Parliament.

Draft Statutory Instruments

2014 No. XXXX

Representation Of The People

The Representation of the People (Supply of Information) Regulations 2014

Made

2014

Coming into force

1st January 2015

The Lord President of the Council makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 53(1) and (3) of, and paragraphs 10B(1) and (2) and 11A of Schedule 2 to, the Representation of the People Act 1983(1).

The Lord President of the Council has consulted the Electoral Commission in accordance with section 7(1) and (2)(e) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000(2).

In accordance with section 201(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1983(3), a draft of these Regulations has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Representation of the People (Supply of Information) Regulations 2014.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 1st January 2015.

(3) These Regulations do not extend to Northern Ireland.

Supply of information to political parties

2.—(1) This regulation applies to—

(a) a registered political party other than a minor party, within the meaning of section 160(1) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000; and

(b) any person nominated to act for the purposes of these Regulations for a particular constituency by the registered nominating officer (within the meaning of section 24 of that Act) of a registered political party to which this regulation applies.

(2) This regulation applies where that party or person—

(a) in England and Wales, has been supplied under regulation 102 of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001(4) with a copy of the register which in accordance with section 13(1) of the 1983 Act is required to be published on or before 1st December 2014, and

(b) in Scotland, has been supplied under regulation 101 of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001(5) with a copy of the register published on or before 28th February 2015 under article 15 of the 2013 Order.

(3) A registered nominating officer may nominate only one person for a constituency (but may revoke a nomination and make a fresh nomination).

(4) A party or person to whom this regulation applies may request a registration officer to supply information as to whether each of the persons with an entry in a register of electors maintained by that officer had either made a successful application under section 10ZC or 10ZD of the 1983 Act(6) or had their entitlement to remain registered confirmed in accordance with the 2013 Order.

(5) A party or person—

(a) must make a request under paragraph (4) in writing;

(b) must make such a request—

(i) in England and Wales, in the period beginning with 1st January 2015 and ending with 27th February 2015, and

(ii) in Scotland, in the period beginning with 2nd March 2015 and ending with 10th April 2015.

(6) A party may make only one such request to each registration officer.

(7) A person may make only one such request to each registration officer acting for an area in which the constituency for which the person has been nominated wholly or partly falls.

(8) Where a request has been made in accordance with this regulation and the registration officer holds the information in a document in data form, the officer must, within 14 days of receiving the request, supply the document in data form to the party or person, free of charge.

(9) But paragraph (8) does not require the registration officer to supply information relating to a person who—

(a) has an anonymous entry in the register,

(b) is registered in pursuance of a declaration of local connection, a service declaration or an overseas elector’s declaration, or

(c) is registered by virtue of an application made under section 7(2) or 7A(2) of the 1983 Act(7).

(10) A registration officer may not disclose any part of the information referred to in paragraph (4) except in accordance with this regulation or for the purposes of any civil or criminal proceedings.

(11) In this regulation—

“the 1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983;

“the 2013 Order” means the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2013(8);

“data form” means a form in which information is capable of being processed by means of equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose.

Use of information

3.—(1) A party or person (P) to whom information has been supplied under regulation 2(8) may make use of it only—

(a) for purposes relating to electoral registration or for the purposes of any civil or criminal proceedings, and

(b) until the end of 7th May 2015.

(2) P may authorise another person to have access to such information where that is reasonably necessary in connection with P’s use of the information for a purpose specified in paragraph (1)(a).

(3) The limitation in paragraph (1) also applies to any person to whom access to the information is given under paragraph (2).

Signed by authority of the Lord President of the Council

Minister of State

Cabinet Office

Date

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations require electoral registration officers in Great Britain to supply national and local political parties, for a limited period, with information as to whether entries on an electoral register were either made following an application under the system of individual electoral registration, which begins in 2014, or were included as a result of the entry having been confirmed in accordance with the transitional arrangements for the new system. The information may only be used for the purposes of electoral registration (or of civil or criminal proceedings) and may not be used after 7th May 2015.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.

(1)

1983 c.2; section 53 was amended by section 24 of, and paragraph 13 of Schedule 4 to, the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c.50) and by sections 8 and 15 of, paragraphs 1 and 13 of Schedule 1 and Part 1 of Schedule 7 to, the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c.2); paragraph 10B was substituted by section 9 of the Representation of the People Act 2000; paragraph 11A was inserted by paragraph 85 of Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 1985 and amended by paragraph 7 of Schedule 15 to the Data Protection Act 1998 (c.29) and by section 7 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 (c.33). Under article 3 of the Lord President of the Council Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/1837) these powers are exercisable concurrently by the Secretary of State and the Lord President of the Council.

(2)

2000 c.41; there are amendments to section 7 but none is relevant to this instrument.

(3)

Section 201(2) was substituted by paragraph 69 of Schedule 4 to the Representation of the People Act 1985 and amended by paragraph 6 of Schedule 21 to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 and article 5(b) of S.I. 1991/1728.

(4)

S.I. 2001/341, inserted by S.I. 2002/1871 and amended by other instruments not relevant to these Regulations.

(5)

S.I. 2001/497, inserted by S.I. 2002/1872 and amended by other instruments not relevant to these Regulations.

(6)

Sections 10ZC and 10ZD were inserted by section 1 of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to, the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (c.6).

(7)

Sections 7 and 7A were inserted by sections 4 and 5 respectively of the Representation of the People Act 2000 (c.2).

(8)

S.I. 2013/3197, amended by S.I. 2014/449.