Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of whether data protection legislation prevents local authorities from enabling searches by licence-holder name of public registers maintained under section 232 of the Housing Act 2004, where the name and address of the licence holder are prescribed particulars of that register.

Under the Housing Act 2004, local authorities are required to make their licensing registers available for inspection to the public.

They must also provide a certified copy of their registers (or individual entry/entries from it) to anyone who requests it, subject to the payment of a fee.

We encourage local authorities to consider accessibility requirements in meeting these duties and to ensure that any fees charged for this are reasonable and proportionate.

There is no requirement for local authorities to publish their licensing registers. Where they choose to do so, they should consider any interactions with data protection legislation in respect of personal data contained within those registers.

The government keeps licensing regulations under review.