asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the enactment of the Abolition of Domestic Rates, Etc. (Scotland) Bill will permit the names and addresses of those who pay the community charge to be sold in machine-readable form or made available to other government departments; and if he will make a statement.

Clause 20 of the Abolition of Domestic Rates, Etc. (Scotland) Bill provides that copies of those parts of the community charges register which are to be available for public inspection may be sold by the regional or islands council in either documentary or machine-readable form.