Sale of electoral roll details is defended

Councillor Abdul Jabbar

OLDHAM is one of 307 UK councils to have sold information from the electoral roll over a five-year period, according to a report released this week.

Freedom of Information requests submitted by Big Brother Watch, Britain’s leading privacy campaign group, found that Oldham Council sold information from the edited register seven times between May, 2007, and May, 2012.

According to the research, the council received £932 in revenue with buyers including a solicitors and a Manchester-based mortgage broker alongside two individuals and four other businesses.

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, cabinet member for finance, said: “Oldham Council strictly adheres to the legislation which covers the sale and use of the electoral register.

“The full register is only sold to the major credit agencies and last year the cost of the register was £458 including annual updates. This is common practice among councils throughout the country.”

Councils are required by law to produce two versions of the Register of Electors, a full version and an edited version. Since the introduction of the edited version of the electoral register in 2002, any third party can purchase the information, however individuals can ask to have their details excluded from this version.

Councillor Jabbar continued: “Since the register was revised in December, 2011, we have sold parts of the edited register on three occasions at a total cost of £351.”
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