Tag: Lord Rennard

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ascertain how many people shown as having voted on the marked register for the General Election on 7 May 2015 were on the electoral register at that time solely by virtue of the household based electoral registration system; whether they will make any such data available, broken down by (1) country, (2) constituency, and (3) local authority; how many of those voters were removed from the electoral registers on 1 December 2015; and what plans they have to help ensure that those voters are included on electoral registers based on Individual Electoral Registration.

Lord Bridges of Headley

While data is not available on the number of non-IER registered electors who voted at the 2015 General Election, the Electoral Commission found 96% of the entries on the electoral register in May 2015 were already registered under IER. The remaining non-IER registered electors will have been contacted as part of the annual canvass, and specifically targeted by Electoral Registration Officers, to encourage them to submit an application under IER ahead of the end of the transition to IER.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 15 June (HL Deb col 1218), what progress they have made in assessing the benefits of an online registration checking tool.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The Government recognises that finding a way to reduce the number of duplicate applications to register to vote would be beneficial for both citizens and electoral administrators. An online registration checking tool is one of many potential solutions.

We are currently in the discovery phase of investigating the issue of duplicate applications and are scoping a number of options. Whether or not an online registration checking tool is the most viable solution will only become clear after this work has been completed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to gather data from Electoral Registration Officers about levels of electoral registration as at 1 December 2015, and whether that process will differ from practice in previous years.

Lord Bridges of Headley

Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) will have published their revised registers by 1 December 2015. As in previous years the Electoral Commission will use the data from these registers to inform their assessment of the state of the December 2015 registers, which they plan to publish in late February/early March. The Cabinet Office has worked with EROs, Electoral Management Software suppliers and the EC to gather data that will assist the assessment of the December 2015 registers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what their response is to the recommendation of the Electoral Commission in its report on the 2016 EU referendum that Governments should make use of all available owned channels to promote voter registration ahead of any major poll.””

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

We welcome the Electoral Commission’s recommendation. This recommendation reflects the success of activities conducted by the Government to promote registration ahead of the EU Referendum that complemented the activity delivered by the Commission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish data showing the number of entries on the electoral register as at 1 December 2015; and if so, whether they will break down that information by (1) country, (2) constituency and (3) local authority.

Lord Bridges of Headley

On 24th February the Office for National Statistics will publish total register entries at a local authority level for local government registers and at a constituency level for parliamentary registers. The Electoral Commission is planning to publish a report in late February/early March on the state of the December 2015 registers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many allegations of personation were made to the police in respect of the EU referendum, how many of these are under active investigation, and what proportion this represents of votes cast in the referendum.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The Electoral Commission’s report on the EU Referendum has found that at the referendum there were 19 allegations relating to personation at a polling station and that following police inquiries, five of these cases have been resolved as no further action required, one resulted in a caution being accepted, and the remaining 13 are still under investigation. The Commission’s report states that 33,577,342 votes were cast at the referendum. The Government is currently considering the recommendations of the independent review by my Rt Hon Friend, the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir Eric Pickles), which includes recommendations on tackling the scope for personation and introducing voter ID at polling stations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to include, in their consideration of the future of the national census, the possibility of collecting data for electoral registration purposes in addition to other purposes.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

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 Lord Rennard on 2014-06-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that online completion of census data could be combined with online electoral registration.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

With the introduction of online registration in England and Wales on 10 June and September in Scotland, registering to vote is now more convenient and accessible.

The Government will continue to explore the mutual benefits of collaboration between online electoral registration and preparation for the online Census.