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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, when electoral registration officers will be able to impose fixed penalty notices for non-registration.

Greg Clark

From 10 June 2014, alongside the introduction of individual electoral registration (IER), Electoral Registration Officers in England and Wales will be able to impose civil penalty notices for failure to respond to a notice of requirement to register on the electoral register. In Scotland this will be from 19 September 2014 alongside the introduction of IER in Scotland, following the Scottish referendum.

In conjunction with the Electoral Commission we intend to collect information on the number of civil penalties issued for failure to respond to an IER invitation through each local authority’s Electoral Management System.

Local authority staff who are responsible for the delivery of electoral registration have been fully trained on IER processes, including a module on notices of requirement to register and on civil penalties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people eligible to be on the most recent (a) census and (b) electoral register who were not recorded.

Mr Nick Hurd

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to provide that the freeze dates for population size for boundary reviews and the census be in the same year.

Greg Clark

The Government has no plans to do so. Using population figures derived from census data would not provide a better basis for a review of constituency boundaries than using the electoral register.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 20 May 2013, Official Report, column 443W, on electoral register, what the results were of his Department’s cooperation with data holding organisations on datasets that can be used to ensure completeness and accuracy of the electoral register.

Greg Clark

The Government published the results of its pilots in March 2012 and July 2013 and are publically available at:

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 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what training has been given to electoral registration officers in the implementation of fixed penalty notices for non-registration.

Greg Clark

From 10 June 2014, alongside the introduction of individual electoral registration (IER), Electoral Registration Officers in England and Wales will be able to impose civil penalty notices for failure to respond to a notice of requirement to register on the electoral register. In Scotland this will be from 19 September 2014 alongside the introduction of IER in Scotland, following the Scottish referendum.

In conjunction with the Electoral Commission we intend to collect information on the number of civil penalties issued for failure to respond to an IER invitation through each local authority’s Electoral Management System.

Local authority staff who are responsible for the delivery of electoral registration have been fully trained on IER processes, including a module on notices of requirement to register and on civil penalties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what assessment he has made of the introduction of individual electoral registration in Northern Ireland.

Greg Clark

The experience of Northern Ireland has helped inform the plans for the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in Great Britain. As a result the approach in Great Britain differs from Northern Ireland in several key respects. Unlike the transition to IER in Northern Ireland in 2002, in Great Britain data matching is being used to ‘confirm’ the majority of current electors on the existing register without them having to make a new application. The transition is being phased over two years, which means no one who registered to vote at the last canvass will lose their right to vote at the General Election in 2015. The annual canvass is also being retained and on-line registration is being introduced to make electoral registration more accessible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 27 January 2014, Official Report, column 387W, on electoral register, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of gathering and holding information on the proportion of attainers who are registered to vote; and what assessment he has made of the usefulness of such information for improving the introduction of individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark

The Government has made no such estimate or assessment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, columns 509-10W, on electoral registration, whether his Department provides funding to Bite the Ballot to increase voter registration.

Greg Clark

The Government recently announced that all 363 local authorities and valuation joint boards in Great Britain and five national organisations are sharing £4.2 million funding to promote voter registration amongst under-registered groups.

Organisations with ideas on how funding can be used to create and support opportunities to promote voter registration, including Bite the Ballot, have been encouraged to approach local authorities, and I emphasised this point with Bite the Ballot when I met them in March this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 23 April 2012, Official Report, column 623W, on electoral register, what steps he has taken to improve student registration in the run up to individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark

The Government is working with the Higher Education sector to maximise the registration of students.

Measures include provision of data from the universities to the EROs to help them contact students individually and promoting the use of online registration, when it becomes available, particularly during course enrolment.

The Government has produced guidance for university registrars to help them implement these steps before the start of the 2014/15 academic year when students will register under Individual Electoral Registration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 8 November 2011, Official Report, column 283W, on electoral register, if he will make it his policy to collect information on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for non-registration in the run up to the introduction of individual electoral registration.

Greg Clark

From 10 June 2014, alongside the introduction of individual electoral registration (IER), Electoral Registration Officers in England and Wales will be able to impose civil penalty notices for failure to respond to a notice of requirement to register on the electoral register. In Scotland this will be from 19 September 2014 alongside the introduction of IER in Scotland, following the Scottish referendum.

In conjunction with the Electoral Commission we intend to collect information on the number of civil penalties issued for failure to respond to an IER invitation through each local authority’s Electoral Management System.

Local authority staff who are responsible for the delivery of electoral registration have been fully trained on IER processes, including a module on notices of requirement to register and on civil penalties.