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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will place in the Library a copy of the newly-designed Household Registration Form and the Invitation to Register forms.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that these forms have been formally approved by the Minister of State, and as such the Cabinet Office will be placing them in the Library shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authority databases may be consulted by local authority electoral registration officers for the purpose of data matching for the electoral register.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are entitled to access any records kept in any form by the local authority which appointed them, for the purpose of meeting their registration duties. These records may include, for example, council tax, social services and education records. Access to these records serves a dual purpose: to identify potential new electors and to check that registered electors continue to be eligible to be registered.

As direct access to records is limited to records held by the appointing authority, in those parts of England where there are two tiers of local government, EROs are currently unable to directly access county council records (such as education records). The Commission understands that the Government is planning to legislate to enable records held by county councils to be shared with EROs for the purposes of maintaining and improving the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authority (a) augmented and (b) did not augment Department for Work and Pensions data matching with the electoral register with local authority data matching.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that 137 local authorities provided data to them on their local data matching activities following the trial of matching with the DWP in 2013. The table below lists these local authorities. Those that did not provide data may still have carried out local data matching work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what percentage of those registered to vote by post did so in (a) police commissioner elections and (b) the local European elections in each electoral area; and what the percentage turnout was at polling stations in each election and in each area.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that the turnout figures at the Police and Crime Commissioner elections were as follows:

The turnout figures at the 2009 European Parliament elections were:

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential benefits of using (a) student unions and (b) other university and college venues as polling stations.

Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that between 2002 and 2007 a number of English local authorities piloted the use of alternative locations as polling stations, although these did not include student unions or other university and college premises. The locations included railway stations, supermarkets, libraries and other local authority venues.

The Commission’s statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes concluded that the convenience of voting at alternative locations was appreciated by some voters, although the impact on turnout was minimal.

At present, the legislation provides that Returning Officers may use certain publicly-funded schools or “rooms funded out of any rate” free of charge as premises for polling stations. The Electoral Commission has recommended that Returning Officers should be permitted to use a wider range of publicly-funded buildings as polling stations.