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1107 Political Parties and Elections Bill [LORDS] Political Parties and Elections Bill 1108 [LORD BATES] I totally support the principal point of the more reasoned amendment put forward by my noble friend Lord Norton of Louth which delays implementation of the abolition. Direct mailing companies need to be aware and acknowledge that there is grave discomfort at the information being passed on for marketing purposes. They need to start thinking in the medium term about finding other sources from which to garner this information. However, we keep coming back to timing, which is everything. At present, the representations that we have received from the organisations that would be most affected by this measure have led us to a deeper concern about the impact on jobs and businesses in this country. At times of recession, when many people are losing their homes and jobs, and many businesses are closing for many reasons, we should take almost a hippocratic oath, which is, “First, do no harm”. My hesitation is not about the principle of the amendment but that at a practical level we may actually harm an important part of the economy. Therefore, while we very much support the principle of the amendment and urge the industry to take notice of the remarks made in this House, and to look for alternatives, we would not be able to offer support from the Front Bench to my noble friend. 6.15 pm Lord Tyler: My Lords, I want to reiterate the point made by my noble friend Lord Rennard in Grand Committee when we supported the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth. I quote from the Grand Committee on 6 May. My noble friend said that, “the purpose of the electoral register is democracy and the purpose of political parties is to promote their messages legitimately. It is not right that someone who registers to vote should then have to consider whether they should receive junk mail”.—[Official Report, 6/5/09; col. GC263.] The register was never intended for that purpose and the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, has made a persuasive case for looking very seriously again at the whole purpose of the electoral register. Lord Bach: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, for his amendment and for the way in which he has changed some of the wording between Grand Committee and now. It is right to point out that the Electoral Commission states: “While we support the intention of Amendment 74 in the name of Lord Norton of Louth, which aims to end the compilation and publication of the edited version of the electoral register, we have strong concerns about the drafting of the amendment”. I hope, therefore, that the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, will accept that when the Electoral Commission is absolutely in favour of what the Government want, I quote it; but I also try to do so when it is not. To be fair, that is exactly the comment that the commission made on this issue. Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts: My Lords, I did say in my remarks that the Electoral Commission had concerns about the drafting of the amendment. I was not trying to say that the commission was 100 per cent behind it. I think that I made that perfectly clear. Lord Bach: My Lords, the noble Lord is being fair; I hope he thinks that I have been fair in response. This amendment introduces a new clause, whereby after December 2011, Section 9 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 in relation to the edited register will no longer have effect, thus preventing any use after that date of the provisions that allow for the compilation and publication of the edited version of the electoral register. EROs would no longer compile an edited version of the register for sale to anyone for any purpose. Historical versions of the edited register, including the final version published on 1 December each year, would still be available. We have been reminded that in July 2008, Dr Mark Walport and Mr Richard Thomas published their report, the Data Sharing Review, which made a number of recommendations to the Government. In particular, recommendation 19 called for the edited version of the register to be abolished. We indicated that we would consult on this proposal and that remains our intention. The Government clearly understand the concerns around the sale of personal details through the supply of the edited register. As my noble friend Lord Tunnicliffe stated in Grand Committee, before we can consider taking forward recommendation 19 there is a need to establish how removing the provisions would impact on the UK economy, businesses, charities and the general public. Indeed, noble Lords may be interested to hear that evidence to date indicates that a wide variety of organisations use the edited register and there could be an economic impact—even a significant economic impact—if it were no longer available for sale. For example, the direct-marketing industry has indicated that it would be hard hit if the edited register were abolished. It is worth pointing out that direct mail is worth £8.6 billion to the UK economy and accounts for 182,000 jobs. We must not neglect the very real potential impact on charities. They are of course suffering, as are businesses, in the current economic climate. Direct mail remains a significant form of direct marketing for charities. The Institute of Fundraising has told us that it relies on the edited register for this purpose. A piece of research was carried out by nfpSynergy in 2008. Based on the responses from more than 100 charities, the level of income generated from existing donors—those acquired through direct mail—sits at around an average of 27 per cent of the charities’ total income. Charities would face poorer quality direct marketing lists and lower response rates if the edited electoral register was no longer available for sale. If charities are unable to verify addresses accurately, there is more chance of mail being addressed wrongly, which could lead to a reduction in the inclination of potential donors to donate. We think other impacts need to be taken into account. In the absence of the edited register, direct mailing organisations may rely on out-of-date information, thus increasing the risk of wrongly addressed correspondence. Direct marketing companies may start to rely on more intrusive methods of marketing, such as cold calling. The Royal Mail benefits substantially from income from advertising mail. Out of a £7 billion
1109 Political Parties and Elections Bill [17 JUNE 2009] Political Parties and Elections Bill 1110 a year turnover, £1.7 billion represents delivering and advertising mail to the Royal Mail. This might be impacted. Those are powerful arguments, particularly in the economic times we are living in. Having said all that, we accept that there are strong principled arguments in favour of abolishing the edited register. We are sympathetic to those who argue on principle, as does the noble Lord who moved the amendment, that data collected for electoral purposes should not be sold on for commercial purposes. We are also concerned that the existence of the edited register may put some people off registering to vote. That runs contrary to our programme of work to bolster registration ahead of the introduction of individual registration. It is something we wish to consider carefully. While we have collected some evidence to date, a full consultation would allow us to go out to a wider audience, including businesses, charities and the public. We feel that this would enable us to build up a firmer evidence base and better understand the nature of the impact of abolishing the edited register. It is our intention to conduct a consultation before the Summer Recess in order to build a firmer evidence base about the advantages and disadvantages of the edited register and to consider the way forward on the basis of the responses received. I should like to emphasise that an amendment to this Bill is not the only legislative mechanism, in our view, by which the provisions for the edited register may be removed. The edited register exists because of provision in secondary legislation, made under paragraph 10(1) of Schedule 2 to the Representation of the People Act 1983. There is no requirement that secondary legislation should include provision about an edited register. Accordingly, our argument is that it would be possible to remove the provision for the edited register by using existing powers to amend secondary legislation, if that was deemed appropriate. Therefore, it would be open to the Government to use this mechanism to remove the edited register if, following consultation, it became evident that that was the best way forward. That would still leave the power to create the edited register again on the statute book. Nevertheless, it might achieve the benefits that noble Lords describe and would be a more flexible approach. This would allow us to have the benefit of fully considering the outcome of the consultation before taking further steps. Notwithstanding our sympathy for the arguments against the edited register, this should be the preferred approach and proper process for making this informed policy decision about changes to our system of electoral administration. I am not making any commitments on behalf of the Government, as I would not wish to pre-empt the outcome of any consultation. I mention this solely to emphasise that this Bill may not be the only mechanism by which the provisions relating to the edited register may be amended. I hope that those who support the amendment might give careful consideration to the impact of accepting it. I repeat that, in principle, we understand the motivation behind the amendment, but we argue that it would not be appropriate to abolish the edited register via an amendment to this Bill before we had conducted a public consultation in full. The noble Lord will take whatever course he thinks best. However, I hope that some of the arguments that I have tried to employ might gave him some food for thought. Lord Norton of Louth: My Lords, I am grateful to all those who have spoken. In addition to the bodies I mentioned that support abolition, there was cross-party support for it in Grand Committee. I am very grateful for this afternoon’s expression of support from my noble friends Lord Hodgson and Lord Brooke and the noble Lord, Lord Tyler. I am grateful for the Minister’s response. It came more towards meeting the point of principle this time rather than relying solely on the practical point. I have two concerns about what he said. He has repeated the point that the Government propose to consult. They have been proposing to consult for some time. The Government could have already had the consultation exercise and got the responses by now. There does not appear to be any great urgency on the part of the Government. That brings me to the second point. The Minister has said, quite rightly, that one could get rid of edited registers through existing legislation; the provisions are there. He said that that is the more flexible approach. My concern is that it is flexibility in favour of doing nothing; that would be my worry. I feel that there is a need for something to be locked in to ensure that there is action. I think ultimately the issue of principle is paramount. I will reflect on what the Minister has said. However, my greatest concern is, as my noble friend Lord Hodgson said, the concern expressed by the Electoral Commission in relation to drafting. I want to reflect on that. However, I will reflect on what the Minister has said and consider whether to return to the issue at Third Reading. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 74 withdrawn. Amendment 75 not moved. Amendment 76 Moved by Lord Tyler 76: Clause 21, leave out Clause 21 Lord Tyler: My Lords, this is an important issue not least because, as yet, Members of the other place have had no debate on it. Those who were present at Second Reading, as well as those who have taken part in the discussions in Grand Committee, will recall that this is the question of the exclusion from the ballot paper of the candidates’ addresses. By some special arrangement, this was put to the other place without any debate, out of sequence and not in the group to which it related. I need go no further. There is an important principle here, which is similar to the principle that the noble Lord, Lord Campbell- Savours, enunciated on Monday, in relation to the amendment that we had both put before the House. This is an issue that the House of Commons should
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