COUNCILS in Suffolk are making tens of thousands of pounds by regularly selling people's names and addresses to businesses and organisations including junk mail companies.
Anthony Bond
COUNCILS in Suffolk are making tens of thousands of pounds by regularly selling people's names and addresses to businesses and organisations including junk mail companies.
An EADT investigation has discovered that the seven borough and district councils have made at least �50,000 in the past five years by selling on the electoral register.
Businesses which have bought the personal details include estate agents, a company which runs bars and a travel agency.
A direct marketing firm has also bought the names and addresses of some of Suffolk's residents, which can then be used for unsolicited mail drops or marketing phone calls.
Other businesses and organisations buying the personal information include a stockbroker, a company which specialises in personalised car registrations as well as churches, a school and the University of East Anglia.
Details of the EADT investigation have led to criticism from Big Brother Watch, a campaigning organisation to protect individual liberties and personal freedom.
Last night, Alex Deane, the director of Big Brother Watch, said: “I think this is an appalling abuse of council powers. We all think that we can trust the council with our basic electoral data. Nobody thinks that when they tell the council their personal details that these details are going to be sold on. There has never been any warning to anyone that this information would be sold for profit by these councils.”
Details of the selling on of the electoral register where obtained by the EADT following a Freedom of Information request.
It shows that the names and addresses of residents in Aldeburgh and Framlingham, who are on the edited register, were sold by the council earlier this year for �26 to Susan Hampshire Travel, which specialises in ocean and river cruises.
Babergh District Council has made �462.90 since 2004 by selling on the edited electoral register to direct marketing companies on four occasions. It has also sold details to planning consultants, an estate agents and restaurateurs.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council has sold on personal details of some of its residents to British Sugar, LA Fitness and Spectre Leisure.
The investigation also found a huge difference between the seven councils in the number of occasions that they sell the information on.
Ipswich Borough Council has not sold on the edited register at all since its records began in 2007. But Babergh District Council has sold the edited register to businesses, organisations and individuals 33 times since 2004.
Ray Amesbury, senior democratic services manager, at Babergh District Council, said: “As with all other councils responsible for maintaining a register of electors, Babergh is required by law to make either its full or edited register available on request. The amount that councils are able to charge for this is set centrally and cannot be varied by councils. Therefore, the fees obtained by Babergh over the years in question are a reflection of the demand for one or other forms of the register from national and local organisations”
MONEY MADE BY COUNCILS FOR ELECTORAL REGISTER
04/5 05/6 06/7 07/8 08/9 09 TOTAL
Babergh �2,448 �1,692 �1,901 �1,851 �2,387 �40 �10,319
Forest Heath No data No data No data No data No data �1,188 �1,188
Ipswich No data No data No data �1,882 �1,882 �1,882 �5,646
Mid Suffolk No data �1,316 �1,203 �1,726 �1,671 �2,008 �7,924
St Eds �3,115 �1,900 �1,614 �2,032 �2,281 �188 �11,130
Suff Coastal No data �1,488 �1,440 �1,849 �2,082 No data �6,859
Waveney No data �1,856 �2,053 �1,584 �1,725 No data �7,218
TOTAL �5,563 �8,252 �8,211 �10,924 �12,028 �5,306 �50,284
COMPANIES AND ORGANISATIONS WHO HAVE PAID FOR ELECTORAL REGISTER
PMM Boiler & Plumbing
PPS
NAVTEQ
Opinion Leader Research
By Choice estate agents
East Bergholt Heart Watch
Marketing Solutions
Ipswich High School for Girls
Stutton Church
Festival Republic - organiser of Latitude Festival
Susan Hampshire Travel
Edward Jones Stockbrokers
British Sugar
Datalink
Elite Registrations
Spectre Leisure
Whiting & Partners
University of East Anglia
Pack Homes Ins Services
LA Fitness
Datatrans
THERE are two versions of the electoral register which can be sold on legally by councils - the full version and edited.
The full version contains the names and addresses of all people within the councils boundaries and also indicates whether somebody is an absent voter or, for example, or if they are a European voter entitled to vote in the UK. This can only be sold for electoral purposes and to political parties and their candidates and agents. It can also be sold to credit reference agencies.
With the edited version, residents can choose to opt out of being on this.
Emily Metcalfe, democratic and business support team leader at Ipswich Borough Council, said: “The edited register can be sold to anybody with a legitimate use for it, such as marketing companies and people doing data comparisons and search engine companies. When we do sell a register we have to issue a list of appropriate uses.”
The amount of money which councils can sell the register for is set by the Government.
Ipswich High School for Girls was one organisation which bought details of the electoral register.
Gemma Parker, marketing manager at the school, said: “The information is already filtered by the local council for those people who do not wish for their data to be shared. We have sent information to those people on the electoral role who have given permission, inviting them to attend literary evenings and theatre performances at our school, as part of our commitment to our local community. We have had an extremely positive response from the recipients, and have not received any negative feedback at all.”
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