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<p>The Electoral Commission informs me that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs)
are entitled to access any records kept in any form by the local authority which appointed
them, for the purpose of meeting their registration duties. These records may include,
for example, council tax, social services and education records. Access to these records
serves a dual purpose: to identify potential new electors and to check that registered
electors continue to be eligible to be registered.</p><p> </p><p>As direct access
to records is limited to records held by the appointing authority, in those parts
of England where there are two tiers of local government, EROs are currently unable
to directly access county council records (such as education records). The Commission
understands that the Government is planning to legislate to enable records held by
county councils to be shared with EROs for the purposes of maintaining and improving
the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers.</p><p> </p>
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