Examination of Witnesses (Questions 260
- 279)
TUESDAY 16 JUNE 1998
MR JOHN
TURNER, MR
COLIN MARSHALL
AND MR
JOHN BAMBROOK
MR DAVID
MONKS AND
MR ROGER
MORRIS
260. Did Birmingham negotiate a voluntary arrangement?
(Mr Turner) Yes, with the local electricity company.
It has achieved some very much improved results.
Mr Winnick
261. Is that the only local authority to do
it?
(Mr Turner) It is the only one of which I am aware.
Mr Linton
262. As a matter of course, do you make a cross-check
of the electoral register against the telephone directory?
(Mr Morris) Not in my experience. If one recognises
that cost is a factor here, there is a direct canvass in Northampton.
We will knock on every door up to five times before we give up,
assuming the form is not filled in earlier than that. Nevertheless,
there is a limit. For reasons of cost we have reduced the number
of people who programme the A forms into the data to a minimum.
There is a limit to what you can do in terms of clerical errors.
We have 140,000 names in round terms to put in. What may sound
like minimal commonsense checks become impossible without very
large-scale follow-up, despite the fact that we now pre-print
the A forms with the standing names on the register. We are trying
to encourage people to take the shortest route to the right result
from the beginning. Any more than that would be disproportionate.
263. I understand that it costs only £100
to cross-check the entire electoral register for a constituency
against the telephone directory?
(Mr Morris) I do not know how that is done. I do not
know whether it is done by other electronic means or by using
volunteers. Clearly, if one wishes to check a particular ward
for a particular purpose that can be achieved, but to require
all these checks to be done in a manner that is not electronically
data-compatible in this day and age would be unhelpful.
Ms Hughes
264. Do you have an estimate of the impact of
the activities in your particular areas? What proportion of the
voting population have registered as a result of those initiatives?
(Mr Morris) It cannot be exact, but our perception
is that we capture 97 to 98 per cent of people. A large part of
the population movement comes from a new development where there
is perhaps a greater willingness for people to be registered and
there is less history of a failure to register. There is also
the experience of what happens particularly in general elections.
General elections produce a snowstorm of inquiries about why people
are not on the register. The usual answer is that the householder
has forgotten to put himself or herself on the form or there is
some other perfectly simple explanation. Obviously, that gives
some real feedback about how successful one is and tends to show
whether one has accidentally left out a whole street or the several
dozen inquiries that one receives represent .001 per cent of the
total and there is no problem. Putting all those things together,
while I cannot provide an exact statistical reply I and my staff
have been there for 12 years or so and we have confidence in the
views that we have expressed.
Mr Russell
265. As to the sending out of pre-printed registration
forms, is there any evidence that the relevant person has moved
and the incoming person thinks this is a good way of not appearing
on the register himself? I can cite one example where a young
couple resided for three years in a house which for the purposes
of the electoral register bore the name of a deceased lady.
(Mr Morris) There must be cases of that kind of subterfuge.
Clearly, there are people who wish to escape creditors or angry,
violent spouses. People will resort of all kinds of subterfuges.
But we must keep this in proportion. I am dealing with 140,000
electors in round terms. If one imagines that there are 700 cases
they still represent only 0.5 per cent. What else do we do where
we get 99.5 per cent right in public administration? That is a
very high proportion. While one accepts that there is a problem
and that one can always do a little bit better one must keep a
sense of overall reality about what can be achieved with the Great
British public.
266. So, pre-printed forms have boosted the
accuracy of the register?
(Mr Morris) It has probably boosted the accuracy;
and it has certainly boosted our ability to feed in the information
more quickly and accurately. Because people simply have to tick
the box and send it back means that they are more likely to do
it. They do not have to fill in the form; they must merely tick
it and post it. From the point of view of the person who inputs
the data, it is a lot quicker and therefore across the total spectrum
it is a lot cheaper.
Mr Corbett
267. You have made reference to Birmingham and
the local electricity utility. You cannot register people unless
they sign the form in those circumstances?
(Mr Turner) You can because of the anomaly in the
law which says that anyone can claim on anyone else's behalf.
I have done this in the office. For example, the last day before
nominations Mr Mullin may phone in and say that he is not on the
register. I will get a member of my staff to sign the claim form,
as long as I am satisfied that Mr Mullin wishes to be registered.
I see my business as enfranchising as many people as possible.
268. I think that we are all one on the question
of rolling registers. We believe that the present arrangement
whereby a person states in August where he will be on 10 October
is a ridiculous arrangement. He may not be available anyway because
he is away on holiday. What is your view about rolling registers?
Would you update them once a month or have them open until a fortnight
before the poll?
(Mr Monks) The problem is when one closes it. Often
there are people who say that they are not on the register but
they only become excited about it after the date when the general
election has been declared. When does one close it down? I believe
that given sufficient resources and helpful legislation the society
can cope with closing down the register up to the date of nomination
or something like that. Obviously, it depends on the legislation.
(Mr Bambrook) I generally go along with that view.
The association does not believe that there is any problem with
rolling registers with a monthly update. That is basically what
we do at the moment in terms of claims. If we are considering
adding people because they have changed address obviously we will
want to ensure that they are taken off the register on which they
had been and put on the register in the area to which they have
moved. That could be dealt with. We also generally want to close
the register at about close of nominations. There are cost implications.
The association does not believe that the cost implications of
this process are necessarily substantial. We already add electors
on a monthly basis.
269. Are there any lessons to be learned from
the updating of the council tax register? That is now done as
a matter of course, electronically I assume.
(Mr Bambrook) Yes.
270. I also assume that it entails no great
cost?
(Mr Bambrook) The cost is no greater than if one is
maintaining a static register.
271. Does the society go along with that?
(Mr Monks) Yes.
272. However, might that not impede earlier
registration? People may say to themselves that they will not
bother and they will wait for the elections to come round.
(Mr Monks) But we would still go out canvassing. We
would try to put out some publicity; we would tell people not
to wait until the end. There are some people who pay their electricity
bills only when they get the red reminder or pay their council
tax when the summons comes through the letterbox. But if one can
get the message out and say that it will help the elector in the
long run, and that perhaps it will result in lower administration
costs if it is sorted out earlier, that would be helpful.
273. Finally, there will be risks in late registration.
Let us envisage a marginal seat where 100 votes may secure a result
one way or the other. Presumably, there is not a lot that you
can do about it. If one is satisfied that those people are living
there on the day that they say can it be checked?
(Mr Bambrook) That is one reason why we want to have
the ability to check other registers. That will enhance the accuracy
of the late registrations.
Chairman
274. Until how many days before a general election
can a change be made?
(Mr Monks) Up to the close of nominations.
Mr Russell
275. Referring to overseas registration, in
broad terms does eligibility for registration cause you any difficulties?
(Mr Turner) Indeed it does. The change in law which
enabled people to claim registration in a constituency where they
had been some 20 years previously has led to all sorts of administrative
nightmares, particularly for authorities who have deposited their
registers with archives in remote buildings and so on. It causes
a great deal of difficulty in trying to explain why certain people
who have left the country can register and other people who have
been here perhaps for a similar period but do not meet the right
nationality criteria cannot. There is an apparent inconsistency
in the way that we approach the registration process, particularly
when it is borne in mind that technically the local government
register is separate from the parliamentary register, although
to all intents and purposes the two are put together. We know
from the European parliamentary elections that it is perfectly
feasible to identify people who are eligible to vote in one election
and not another. The whole overseas question is now inextricably
linked to the issue of nationality. People who are resident in
this country and have for a considerable time paid their council
tax and played a full part in society cannot vote and cannot understand
why someone who has resided in Argentina for some time can vote.
276. You would not be keen to support the extension
of the 20-year period?
(Mr Turner) I believe that it would make for difficulty
in explaining the principle behind such a change.
277. Can you quantify the cost involved in a
person who has been overseas for 20 years and who seeks to register?
(Mr Turner) The estimated cost—there were quite
different reasons for arriving at it—is about £5 per
elector.
278. Does one understand from the answers thus
far that you would welcome a return either to five years or presumably
zero?
(Mr Turner) We would welcome consistency in approach
that looked at the whole question of who might and who might not
be registered and what the qualification criteria should be for
the registration of particular electors.
Chairman
279. If it were to be reduced to five years
you would have no objection to that?
(Mr Turner) No; it would be much easier to police.
(Mr Monks) We broadly endorse that.
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