Local data is any set of data which is collected by another body, or by any local authority, including your own.
Examples of local data open to you include:
council tax data
adult social care data
local authority billing and payments data
parking permits data
school, college and university admission data
blue badge data
customer service records
payroll data
registrars data
housing and rent data
green/garden waste subscription data
council-run facility membership data (for example, libraries or gyms)
Other sources of information, such as personally knowing someone or word-of-mouth, are not considered to be sources of local data.
Your powers to request local data
As ERO, you are legally entitled to access local data sets and to inspect and make copies of records kept in whatever form by:1
the council which appointed you (and, where you are an ERO for a district council in a two-tier area, the county council)
any registrar of births, deaths and marriages, including any superintendent
any person, including a company or organisation, providing services to, or authorised to exercise any function of, the council; this includes those that are providing ‘outsourced’ services under any finance agreement
There are no statutory or other restrictions, including data protection legislation, that can be used to refuse disclosure of such information to the ERO.2
You are also legally entitled to require any other person to give you information required for the purposes of maintaining the electoral register.3
EROs are able to access such data in line with data protection provisions as there is a lawful basis for its processing; the performance of a public task in the public interest.
In the event that any person does not co-operate with your request it may be appropriate to point out that there is the potential of a criminal penalty of a fine up to a maximum £1,000 for failing to provide the information required.
You may also wish to discuss with your Data Protection Officer whether a Data Sharing Agreement could facilitate access to local data.
Our data protection guidance for EROs and ROs provides guidance in relation to your role as data controller and a checklist to help inform the content of data sharing agreements.