Elected representatives are to be given new rights to private information to enable them to help their constituents.

The move, announced by the Lord Chancellor's department on Wednesday, came after a series of complaints by MPs that the requirements of the Data Protection Act stopped organisations releasing data to them.

In one case an MP had been unable to arrange for a prisoner to attend a relative's funeral because the prison required the constituent's explicit consent before responding to the MP's enquiry.

The government laid an Order before parliament to allow MPs and other elected representatives - such as local councillors - to respond to constituents' requests without having to seek additional explicit consent before acting.

To prevent abuses, the new rules will still require that the sensitive data can only be passed to the elected representative if there has been a request for help to the representative, and the processing of the data must be necessary for the help to be provided.

The Data Protection Act 1998 currently means that MPs normally need explicit consent before they can process sensitive personal data about correspondents or third parties, even where the data has been sent to them directly by the constituent asking for help.

Sensitive personal data is defined as information about a person's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, health, sexual life and criminal record.

The Order will come into effect once it has been approved by both Houses of Parliament.