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21 Nov 2005 : Column 1603W—continued

Electoral Commission

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what the budget for the Electoral Commission was in each of the past five years; and how many staff were employed in each year. [26410]

Peter Viggers: The estimates provision made in respect of each of the years concerned, and the average full-time equivalent staff employed by the Commission, is set out in the following table.

	Estimates provision (£ million)	Staff (average full-time equivalent)
2001–02	7.516	39
2002–03	20.284	102
2003–04	25.708	132
2004–05	38.356	150
2005–06	24.101	(20)155

⁽²⁰⁾ Estimated.

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission if he will list the main areas of activity of the Electoral Commission in each of the last five years. [26411]

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission has advised me that its main areas of activity in each of the last five years have been: the regulation of political party finances; promoting public awareness of our electoral systems; reporting on the conduct of elections;
 
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reviewing electoral law and procedures; and advising Government and Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers.

The Commission has also completed a Periodic Electoral Review of local government boundaries in England, having taken over the functions of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England in April 2002. It also discharged a range of statutory responsibilities in relation to the regional referendum held in the north-east in November 2004.

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission how much the Commission spent on (a) salaries, (b) publications, (c) advertising and (d) other major items in each of the past five years. [26417]

Peter Viggers: Details of expenditure on salaries, publications, and advertising in each of the years concerned, supplied by the Electoral Commission, is set out in the following table.
£ million

	Salaries	Publications	Advertising
2001–02	1.800	0.443	0.228
2002–03	2.060	0.542	4.721
2003–04	3.270	0.503	4.238
2004–05	4.697	0.412	4.937
2005–06	4.750	0.452	5.328

⁽²¹⁾ Estimated

The Electoral Commission has advised me that other major items of expenditure in this period have included: Training for the European Parliamentary elections (2003–04 to 2004–05—£2.52 million); and the north-east regional referendum (2004–05 £4.00 million).

Further detailed information in respect of the years 2001–02 to 2003–04 is available in the Commission's Annual Reports and Accounts. These are available in the Library of the House. The Commission's Report and Accounts for 2004–05 have been laid before the House and will be published shortly.

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what the salaries of the board members of the Commission were in each of the past five years. [26418]

Peter Viggers: Information on the emoluments of board members of the Electoral Commission before 2004–05 is given in the Commission's Reports and Accounts for the years in question, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. The Commission's Report and Accounts for 2004–05 have been laid before the House and will be published shortly.

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what the expenditure of the Commission was over the past five years. [26419]

Peter Viggers: The outturn expenditure of the Electoral Commission in each of the years concerned is set out in the following table.
 
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Outturn expenditure

	£ million
2001–02	6.066
2002–03	18.160
2003–04	18.635
2004–05	24.824
2005–06	(22)23.974

⁽²²⁾ Estimated

Local Government Databases

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what research the Commission has undertaken on recent changes in the law that allow local authority electoral registration officers to consult local government databases. [28160]

Peter Viggers: The Commission informs me that it has undertaken no specific research into the impact of the changes introduced by the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 that allow local authority electoral registration officers to consult local government databases.

Polling Cards/Postal Ballots

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what advice the Commission gives to local authorities on the timing of the issuing of (a) polling cards and (b) postal ballots. [26415]

Peter Viggers: The Commission informs me that its guidance urges returning officers to issue poll cards as soon as practicable. This is in line with the law relating to parliamentary elections, which requires returning officers to send poll cards to electors and their proxies as soon as practicable after the election has been called.

The Commission's guidance advises that it is good practice to issue postal votes to all who have applied as soon as practicable after the relevant deadline to allow a maximum amount of time for ballot papers to be dispatched and for the voter to return them. For continuing postal voters, returning officers cannot, by law, despatch postal ballot packs until after the deadline for changes to existing absent vote arrangements, which is currently 11 days before polling day. For people who apply after this time, postal votes are required to be issued as soon as practicable after the application has been granted.

Registration

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission when the Commission last reviewed the guidelines for procedures used by Electoral Registration Officers for individuals who have failed to register; and what system is in place to monitor compliance to these guidelines. [26413]

Peter Viggers: The Commission informs me that it last reviewed its guidance on the conduct of the electoral registration canvass in the summer of 2005. This guidance is advisory, and as such the Commission has no system in place to monitor compliance with it.
 
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Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what representations the Commission has received on Electoral Registration Officers using central government databases to improve the electoral registers. [26414]

Peter Viggers: The Commission has informed me that it has received a number of representations on a range of electoral registration issues.

In 2002, the Commission specifically sought views on whether better data-sharing between local and central government databases would help Electoral Registration Officers improve the accuracy of electoral registers. The Commission received 32 representations addressing this issue, from Electoral Registration Officers, political parties and other organisations. While a significant majority supported improved data sharing, some of the specific suggestions made could not be implemented under existing electoral and data protection law.

Research Funding

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what resource allocation the Electoral Commission has made for research into (a) under-registration and (b) postal vote fraud in each of the last five years. [28159]

Peter Viggers: The Commission informs me that expenditure on dedicated research on registration issues in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in each of the last five years is as set out in the following table:
£

	Great Britain	Northern Ireland
2001–02(23)	—	—
2002–03(23)	—	39,405
2003–04(23)	—	40,185
2004–05(23)	106,750	39,314
2005–06(24)	—	29,500

⁽²³⁾ Actual
⁽²⁴⁾ Provision

In addition the Commission has regularly conducted research into public opinion about electoral issues generally, including registration and the security of postal voting. The following table sets out the overall expenditure on such public opinion research projects in each of the last five years that have addressed one or both of these subjects:

	£
2001–02(25)	60,000
2002–03(25)	89,065
2003–04(25)	346,332
2004–05(25)	343,706
2005–06(26)	218,305

⁽²⁵⁾ Actual
⁽²⁶⁾ Provision

In addition to research projects, the Commission invests significant resources in identifying and analysing the scale and frequency of postal voting fraud, through
 
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monitoring electoral petitions and fraud prosecutions and liaison with the police, prosecuting authorities, and Electoral Registration and Returning Officers.

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