1 Power of Secretary of State to make regulations for data sharing

(1) The Secretary of State shall by regulation impose a duty on specified
government bodies requiring such bodies to provide specified information to
registration officers for the purposes of electoral registration.

(2) 5Registration officers shall use such specified information received in relation to
a person—

(a) if the specified information received contains all of the information
required, to register that person on the appropriate electoral register or
registers; or

(b) 10if the specified information does not contain all of the information
required, to make further enquiries of that person to receive the
information required to register that person on the appropriate
electoral register or registers.

(3) Regulations made under subsection (1) shall include the provision of data
15collected by specified government bodies by virtue of specified applications.

(4) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this section shall give any government
body the power to share any information about a person without that person‘s
consent.

2 Duties on registration officers

(1) 20Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (registration officers:
duty to take necessary steps) is amended as follows.

(2) Before paragraph (a) in subsection (2), there is inserted—

“(za) taking active steps to increase the number of people on the
electoral register that belong to a specified group;

(zb) leading or arranging for one voter engagement session per
5academic year at each school or further education college
within his area of responsibility;”.

3 Interpretation

In this Act—

• “election” shall mean a parliamentary or local election within the meaning
  10of the Representation of the People Act 1983;

• “electoral register” shall mean the registers in section 9 of the
  Representation of the people Act 1983;

• “specified applications” means any applications made by a person
  potentially eligible to be registered to vote as are specified in
  15regulations made under section 1(1), including “applications for new or
  renewed driving licences”, “applications for disability living
  allowance, job seekers allowance, or employment support allowance”;

• “applications for new or renewed passports” and “applications to register
  with a GP” (as applicable to the specified government body);

• 20“specified government bodies” means any government bodies that are
  specified in regulations made under section 1(1), including “the Driver
  and Vehicle Licensing Agency”, “the Department of Work and
  Pensions”, “HM Passport Office” and “the NHS“;

• “specified group” shall have the meaning determined by regulations
  25made by the Secretary of State but shall include the following groups—

  (a)

  people aged 16 to 24 years’ old;

  (b)

  people with a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act
  2010; and

  (c)

  people from a race, within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010,
  30who made up less than 10 per cent of the population of the
  United Kingdom in the previous census; and

• “specified information” means any information required to register a
  person on the electoral register as are specified in regulations made
  under section 1(1), including a person’s full name, address, date of birth
  35and national insurance number.

4 Extent, commencement and short title

(1) This Act shall extend to England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

(2) This Act shall come into force on the day it is passed.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Voter Registration Act 2015.