To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) central Government and (b) local government databases electoral registration officers may use in undertaking their registration functions.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) national and (b) local authority databases may be inspected by electoral registration officers.

Regulation 23 of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 and the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 gives Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) wide-ranging powers to request whatever information and data they require for the purposes of maintaining the electoral registers. EROs are therefore entitled to request datasets from organisations which would help them undertake their registration functions.

Online applications via the Register to Vote website are verified via the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service (IER DS) using Department for Work and Pensions data. EROs also use local government data in carrying out their registration duties. Commonly used datasets include council tax, housing and housing benefit data, adult social care data, and school admissions data.