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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 6 June 2011, Official Report, columns 625-6W, on the electoral register, what assessment he has made of the effect of the ending of the Participation Fund on voter registration levels before the introduction of individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark

As part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, the Electoral Commission has been responsible for conducting research into the completeness and accuracy of the register. Their previous report, following the conclusion of the Participation Fund, can be found at:

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/145366/Great-Britains-electoral-registers-2011.pdf.

The Electoral Commission will be publishing a further assessment of the completeness and accuracy of the register in Summer 2014.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 20 October 2011, Official Report, column 1099W, on electoral register, what proportion of pupils between the ages of 16 and 18 on the National Pupil Database were registered to vote in each year for which data is available.

Greg Clark

The information requested is not held centrally.

The National Pupil Database does not include information on pupils’ eligibility to be registered.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what proportion of armed services personnel were registered to vote in each of the last thirty years.

Greg Clark

The information requested is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, how much was spent by the Government on encouraging people to register to vote in each year since 2010.

Greg Clark

The Government spent £54,708 in 2010/11 on promoting electoral registration, voting and awareness of election processes through the Participation Fund. The Fund was subsequently abolished because of lack of demand from local authorities.

The Government announced a new approach on 5 February 2014, making £4.2 million available to all 363 local authorities and valuation joint boards in Great Britain and five national organisations to support the costs of activities for maximising registration as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 14 June 2010, Official Report, column 324W, on the electoral register, who is responsible for assessing the performance of the Electoral Commission in (a) monitoring and (b) increasing the electoral registration rates of individual local authorities.

Greg Clark

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000) established the Electoral Commission as independent of Government. It is accountable to Parliament through the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 11 October 2011, Official Report, column 344W, on electoral register: standards, if he will make it his policy to collect information on the proportion of post-primary schools and further education colleges visited by electoral administrators in all parts of the UK.

Greg Clark

The Government has no such plans. It recognises that electoral registration officers are best placed to determine what type of registration activity is likely to prove most effective at a local level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 11 October 2011, Official Report, column 343W, on electoral register, what steps he has taken to ensure that aspects of good practice in Northern Ireland are adopted elsewhere in the UK.

Greg Clark

This Government has taken on board the lessons of the 2002 introduction of Individual Electoral Registration in Northern Ireland. A number of safeguards are in place for the transition that were not used in 2002. For example data matching will allow the vast majority of electors to automatically re-register and the transition is being phased over two years to allow those not yet individually registered to vote in the 2015 General Election.

Funding has been made available to all 363 local authorities and valuation joint boards in Great Britain. Electoral registration officers have been encouraged to use this funding to support the delivery of the Rock Enrol! learning resource.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what (a) central government and (b) local government databases electoral registration officers may use in undertaking their registration functions.

Greg Clark

The introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) will require Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to confirm existing electors and verify all new applicants to register to vote against data held by the Department of Work and Pensions and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. In addition, the Government is currently exploring using data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to further enhance the IER data matching processes as well as providing EROs with information which may help them identify unregistered eligible people.

Under existing legislation EROs are entitled to inspect any data held by the local authority which appointed them, including data held by private companies acting on behalf of the authority, in order to check the validity of applications to register and to identify potential new electors. The data sources which are available to EROs will vary with some EROs appointed by unitary authorities having access to a greater range of data than those appointed by district councils; the Government has introduced secondary legislation to address this issue by allowing district councils to request data from their county council.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 20 October 2011, Official Report, column 1099W, on electoral register, what the results were of the pilot scheme data matching electoral registers against other data services such as the National Pupil Database.

Greg Clark

Results were published in March 2012 and July 2013 and can be found via this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/60723/FINAL-Data-Matching-Evaluation-Report-new.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/223850/Data_Mining_Evaluation_FULL_Report_FINAL.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-06.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of levels of expenditure of electoral registration measures on levels of registration.

Greg Clark

The Government has made no recent assessment of the effect of levels of expenditure of electoral registration measures on levels of registration.

The Government announced on 5th February 2014 that five national organisations and every local authority in Great Britain would be sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration in 2014.

They have been provided with guidance to support them in evaluating the success of activity delivered through this funding. Government will continue to work closely with all funding recipients in order to monitor the outcomes.