Ms Petra Woods:

There were three questions. On checking three times before we take somebody off the register, we did not put in a time limit because we wanted to ensure local authorities could strike the balance. We do not want somebody to check three times within a week, during which time a person cannot be contacted for legitimate reasons. The idea is that this would be done in a judicious manner rather than having it linger on. We can look at putting in a minimum and maximum timeframe to make sure that balance is struck, at least in guidance.

In terms of deceased people on the register, there is already provision for sharing of data on deaths with the superintendent registrar. We are in discussions with the General Register Office to make sure that is more seamless and local authorities have that information. One of the issues we have in removing people is we do not always have a PPS number. At present, we do not have any PPS numbers for people and it is difficult to be absolutely certain you have the right person. All of the provisions we are making to improve the data we are collecting will help to make that process more seamless under the new provisions.

As the Minister of State said, the data protection impact assessment is in preparation. It is at a fairly advanced stage. Under Article 36 of the GDPR, we have to formally engage with the Data Protection Commission, DPC, on the legislation. We will be doing that, sharing the data protection impact assessment with it, making any changes it suggests and bringing it to a final point.