Tag: Chris Ruane

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-01.

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 number and proportion of visually impaired voters who receive election communication in a format they can understand.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that Returning Officers (ROs) are responsible for issuing election-related communications such as poll cards and postal voting statements which must, by law, contain information telling the recipient what to do if they need the information provided in a different format. It is for ROs, in discharging their duties, to identify how best to meet the needs of individuals in their area who are visually impaired. The Commission has made no assessment of the numbers of voters who receive information from ROs in their preferred format.

The Commission also informs me that it ensures that its public information campaigns are accessible to those with visual impairments, and that the voter registration and information materials it produces are available in a variety of formats including Braille and Easy Read. The Commission has written to the RNIB, following the evidence they gave to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee on 1 May, to offer to meet to discuss what else could be done to help ensure that those with visual impairments can register and vote.

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

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the ranked order of spending per person on electoral registration by local authorities was for the last year for which figures are available.

Mr Gary Streeter

A copy of the information requested by the hon. Gentleman has been placed in the Library.

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 hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, which local authorities have initiated proceedings for failure to complete and return an annual electoral registration return in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission informs me that the following Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) reported that they had initiated prosecutions as a result of a failure to respond to the 2012 annual canvass: East Staffordshire; Gravesham; Nottingham; London Borough of Tower Hamlets; Warrington.

The Commission also informs me that it is in the process of analysing the detailed registration data relating to the 2013 canvass, and that once this work has been completed, it will publish the full data set, which will include information on which local authorities initiated proceedings for failure to complete and return an annual canvass form in 2013.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-12.

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

Greg Clark

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many onshore windfarms have been connected to sub-stations in each of the last five years.

Michael Fallon

According to Renewable-UK Wind Energy Database the following numbers of onshore wind projects have been connected in Great Britain over the past five years. The vast majority of these projects contained five or fewer turbines. The Department does not hold data on what, if any, connections to substations were required.

Year	Number of Projects
2014	34
2013	73
2012	109
2011	48
2010	43

Further details of these onshore wind projects are available at:

http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/index.cfm

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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 Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics in formulating policy since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

Mike Penning

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is measuring National Wellbeing, not as an index but through a framework of 41 indicators which capture social progress around important aspects of life for individuals, communities and the nation. The statistics are experimental and as such we should not expect to have examples of major policies that have been heavily influenced by the wellbeing data at this stage.

Evidence provided to the Environmental Audit Committee for its Inquiry into Wellbeing can be found at:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/well-being/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-12.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, in which 100 wards in which constituency in the UK turnout for voting at the polling station was lowest at the 2010 general election.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Electoral Commission does not hold the data requested at ward level. The Commission collects electoral data at each set of polls down to the level of individual contests, which means that it only holds ward level data for local elections.