The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the number of jobseekers over the age of (a) 50 and (b) 60 years in Vale of Clwyd constituency.
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 2014-03-13.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, whether his Department’s funding of £3.6 million to improve electoral registration will be given to local authorities which have not used local government databases to improve electoral registration in the individual electoral registration dry run.
Greg Clark
All Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have received funding, based on their levels of under-registration, to support local activities to maximise registration, as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration. EROs are best placed to decide how to improve the completeness and accuracy of their registers.
Performance Standard one of the Electoral Commission’s framework encourages EROs to use local data sources to build understanding of local challenges and to identify potential new electors. The Electoral Commission monitors and reports on the performance of EROs against the performance standards. All EROs met performance standard one in 2012 and the Commission will report on the 2013 performance 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 2014-03-26.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, columns 622-3W, on the Electoral Register: fraud, if the Electoral Commission will make an assessment of (a) the effect of the views of politicians and (b) statements by the Electoral Commission on public perception of electoral registration.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not have any current plans to carry out research to make such an assessment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department’s policy is on allowing officials to appear before all-party parliamentary groups.
Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, the right hon. Member for Horsham on 26 March 2014, Official Report, column 300W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what average length of time was taken to process personal independence payments applications and DS1500s for clients who were terminally ill in Wales in the last year.
Mike Penning
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Liverpool, West Derby and the hon Member for Airdrie and Shotts, official report, 5 March, column 850W.
Although Personal Independence Payment is a new benefit, and the Department does not have a target for completion of claims while processess are bedding in, we do deal urgently with special rules claims for terminally ill claimants. We are implementing a range of improvements to improve clearance times for people with a terminal illness, including a dedicated phone service which we introduced in February 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administration costs are, per claimant, of (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments.
Mike Penning
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are different benefits with different delivery models. PIP includes a more objective assessment process, with a face-to-face consultation for most people. That is different to DLA, which is a self-assessed paper based process that purely looks at the type of health condition or impairment they have. It was always expected that PIP would produce an overall increased administration cost compared to DLA for these reasons. The current administration cost for DLA per claimant is £56.06. A comparable administration cost is currently unavailable for PIP.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps his Department has taken to improve registration rates and voter turnout of (a) visually impaired voters and (b) voters with learning difficulties.
Greg Clark
Electoral law requires returning officers to take account of the needs of people with disabilities by making polling stations and voting accessible.
In June 2014, the government will be introducing an online facility for registration which will support further accessibility options for those with particular needs. User testing of paper forms has allowed their design to take into account the requirements of those with disabilities.
The Cabinet Office has also funded the Royal Mencap Society to create educational resources for people with a learning disability and to develop a model for one-to-one support for families, carers and others to encourage and enable registering to vote.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-29.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 766W, on electoral register, in which cases numbers of electors registered to vote in the transition from individual electoral registration will be monitored at an electoral ward level.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that it will collect and publish the results of the confirmation data matching process for all electoral wards in Great Britain. These will be available in late-summer 2014.
The Commission also informs me that subsequently data will be collected and published at a local authority level. This will take place after the publication of the December 2014 register and at the time of the 2015 UK parliamentary general election. However, the Commission may choose to ask for more detailed ward statistics from individual EROs if it has concerns around the implementation of individual electoral registration in a particular area.
The Commission also expects electoral registration officers to be monitoring their own data on registrations at ward level, or below, throughout the transition to individual electoral registration, and to communicate them locally to elected representatives and others.
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:
The Electoral Commission will be publishing a further assessment of the completeness and accuracy of the register in Summer 2014.
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