My Lords, first, I shall provide some background to these regulations which amend the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2001 to enable the Chief Electoral Officer—CEO—for Northern Ireland to request information from specified local and public authorities in Northern Ireland for the purpose of meeting his registration objectives.

The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 removed the legal obligation on the CEO to conduct an annual canvass in Northern Ireland and made provision for a system of more extensive and targeted continuous updating of the electoral register. In particular, Section 7 of the Act enables regulations to be made that give the CEO the power to obtain information from local and public authorities to help him to meet his registration objectives. As the registration officer for all constituencies in Northern Ireland, with responsibility for maintaining the electoral register in Northern Ireland, the CEO's objectives—set out in Section 10ZB of the Representation of the People Act 1983—are

"to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable" the following three things: every person who is entitled to be registered in a register is registered in it; that no person who is not entitled to be registered in a register is registered in it; and, finally, that none of the required information relating to any person registered in a register is false.

In order to assist the registration officer in meeting the registration objectives under the new system of continuous updating of the electoral register, the regulations before us now will enable him to request information for the purposes of ensuring that the register is accurate and comprehensive. This information will include names and addresses, dates of births and deaths, and national insurance numbers, which will be used to identify duplicate or invalid entries on the register. It will help him to track changes in the circumstances of individuals on the register, such as their surname and address; to identify people not on the register but who are entitled to be; and to track the point at which "attainers"—individuals aged 16 or 17—will become eligible to be registered.

The bodies from which the CEO will be able to request information under the regulations are district councils; the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in Northern Ireland; the Northern Ireland Central Services Agency; the Northern Ireland Housing Executive; and the Department of Work and Pensions. The DWP is cited instead of the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency because it centrally holds the information that will be requested by the CEO. The DWP is cited in the existing regulations and this system works well.

The regulations do not require bodies to disclose information which came into their possession before these regulations come into force, although they are not prevented from doing so. This is because we do not have the power to give the regulations retrospective effect. In addition to this, we wished to ensure that the CEO did not receive old information. Regulation 1(4) will ensure that the CEO receives information which is relevant and appropriate and not out of date. Of course, before these regulations come into force it is open to the CEO to use his existing powers to obtain information. These regulations have been developed in conjunction with the CEO to ensure that they will enable him to exercise his powers as effectively as possible on the ground. He and his staff are entirely committed to using the new powers contained in these regulations to preserve the high level of accuracy that has characterised the electoral register in Northern Ireland as a result of the improvements brought about by the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, while increasing its comprehensiveness. They will also enable him specifically to target traditionally unrepresented groups, to ensure that as many people as possible in Northern Ireland from all social and economic groups are registered to vote.

It will be for the CEO to determine the operational steps which he will take to do this. He has the knowledge and experience necessary to determine how the powers contained in these regulations should be used to produce the best results. I know that he intends to be very proactive and is keen to begin exercising his new powers as soon as possible. I hope that noble Lords can agree with the regulations, and I commend them to the House. I beg to move.