Commentary on Sections Part 1 Electoral Administration and Registration Chapter 2: Electoral Registration Without Applications Section 4 - Provision connected to the duty to register eligible local government electors
40.Subsection (3) amends section 9E of 1983 Act to make provision about the relationship between the existing duties of electoral registration officers under section 9E with respect to invitations to apply for registration and the new duty to register without application under section 9ZA inserted by section 3. The effect of the amendment to section 9E is that the electoral registration officer’s duty in section 9E(1) will not apply whilst the registration process under section 9ZA is on-going.
41.Subsection (4) amends section 13A of the 1983 Act, which requires electoral registration officers to issue notices about alterations to the register listed in subsection (1) of that section. The addition of a person to the register under the new section 9ZA is added to the list of alterations that trigger the duty to issue notices. Subsections (5) and (6) make related consequential amendments to sections 13AB and 13B of the 1983 Act.
42.Subsections (7) and (9) amend section 53 of, and Schedule 2 to, the 1983 Act. Section 53 of the 1983 Act confers a power on the Secretary of State to make regulations about electoral registration under that Act, and Schedule 2 to the 1983 Act specifies things that can be done in regulations under section 53. The powers of the Secretary of State under section 53 (and Schedule 2) were transferred to the Welsh Ministers by the Welsh Ministers (Transfer of Functions) Order 2018 (S.I. 2018/644), so far as the powers are exercisable within the legislative competence of Senedd Cymru.
43.Subsection (9) amends Schedule 2 to the 1983 Act to specify further things that can be included in regulations under section 53 of that Act in connection with the new duty to register under section 9ZA.
44.Paragraph 1A of Schedule 2 provides for regulations to be made authorising or requiring a person to disclose information to another person for the purpose of assisting a registration officer in relation to matters specified in the paragraph. Paragraph (a) of subsection (9) amends paragraph 1A of Schedule 2, so that assisting a registration officer to decide whether a person is eligible to be included in the register for the purpose of section 9ZA is added to the list of matters in respect of which regulations authorising or requiring disclosure of information can be made.
45.Paragraph (b) of subsection (9) makes clear that regulations under section 53 can make provision about the steps that a registration officer is authorised or required to take for the purpose of deciding whether a person is eligible to be included in the register for the purpose of section 9ZA.
46.Subsection (7) amends section 53 to provide that regulations made by the Welsh Ministers under paragraph 1A(1)(aa) of Schedule 2 (inserted by subsection (9)(a)) authorising or requiring a person to disclose information cannot confer functions on, or modify the functions of, reserved authorities if provision doing such a thing would require the consent or consultation of a Minister of the Crown if the provision were included in an Act of Senedd Cymru.
47.Subsection (8) amends section 56 of the 1983 Act to confer a right of appeal to the county court from decisions under section 9ZA.
48.Paragraphs (c) and (d) of subsection (9) relate to the edited, or open, electoral register. These provisions disapply the regulation making powers in paragraphs 10 and 10B of Schedule 2 of the 1983 Act meaning that Welsh Ministers are not able to make regulations allowing for the creation and supply of an edited, or open, local government electoral register for an area in Wales.