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20 Jun 2006 : Column 1756W—continued
Election Maladministration
Bob Spink:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how maladministration in
the conduct of an election is (a) investigated and (b) redressed; and if she will make a statement. [76536]
Bridget Prentice: The outcome of an election, and any maladministration complained of, may only be challenged by the issue of an election petition. A special election court is constituted to hear the petition.
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what redress is available to a person who believes that an electoral Returning Officer has acted improperly in conducting an election and has caused that person to suffer harm and loss. [76537]
Bridget Prentice: A person who believes that the Returning Officer has acted improperly in conducting an election has the option as part of an election petition to request such further relief or remedy as the court may deem to be just.
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many complaints have been received regarding the conduct of an electoral returning officer in each of the last five years. [76538]
Bridget Prentice: Formal challenges to the conduct of an electoral returning officer are by way of election petition. The number of election petitions logged and heard, or to be heard, for England and Wales in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Number | |
Electoral Registration
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what guidance her Department gives to local authority electoral registration departments to ensure that (a) illegal immigrants and (b) failed asylum seekers are not on the electoral register. [74085]
Bridget Prentice: The Department for Constitutional Affairs does not issue guidance to ERO's. The independent Electoral Commission has within its remit a general duty to issue advice and guidance to electoral administrators.
Electoral Returning Officers
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what options are available to investigate and deal with errors, maladministration and corrupt practice by an electoral returning officer. [78607]
Bridget Prentice:
The Electoral Administration Bill provides for a returning officer to take such steps as he thinks appropriate to remedy any procedural error on
the part of himself or his staff relating to the conduct of an election, although he may not re-count the votes once the result is declared.
Maladministration or corrupt practice by a returning officer that is considered to have materially affected the result of an election may be challenged by means of an election petition.
In addition, there are various offences of corrupt practice at an election, so allegations of corrupt practice by a returning officer may be referred to the police for investigation and any further action.
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many complaints have been made against an electoral returning officer in respect of the conduct of elections in each of the last five years. [78608]
Bridget Prentice: Formal complaints against the actions of a returning officer that are considered to have materially affected the result of an election are made by election petition. Although not all election petitions allege any error or wrongdoing on the part of a returning officer, they are all required to name the returning officer as respondent to the petition.
In the last five years, the number of election petitions that have included specific complaints about the returning officer are as follows:
| Number | |
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether it is a duty of an electoral returning officer to report to the police (a) the fake witnessing of a candidate’s nomination papers and (b) other incidents of possible fraud during the course of an election when such incidents became known to the returning officer; and if she will make a statement. [78890]
Bridget Prentice: Returning officers are responsible for running elections and for ensuring they are conducted in accordance with the relevant rules. It is for individual returning officers to reach their own conclusions on any possible incidents of electoral malpractice or fraud, and to decide whether they should report such matters to the police.
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make it her policy to enable the police to investigate possible incidents of electoral fraud or other irregularities during or after an election other than exclusively on the instructions of a returning officer; and if she will make a statement. [78891]
Bridget Prentice: It is open to any person to report possible incidents of fraud to the police at any time. It will be for the police to decide what action to take in relation to any such reported incidents, and the nature and timing of any investigation that may take place into them.
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what duties are placed upon returning officers in respect of following advice from the Electoral Commission. [78932]
Bridget Prentice: None. The Electoral Commission issues general advice to returning officers on a range of issues relating to the conduct of elections. Returning officers are ultimately responsible for the running of elections and for deciding what action to take in any particular case to ensure they are conducted in accordance with the rules.
Freedom of Information Users Group
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs who the members are of the Freedom of Information Users Group; and what their political affiliations are. [75379]
Vera Baird: Members of the Information Rights User Group are as follows:
lan Readhead, Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire
Peter Bottomley, MP
Adrian Pollitt
Paul Bettison
Steve Bailey
Lord Lester of Herne Hill
John Hipwood
Professor Robert Hazell
Rosemary Jay
Maurice Frankel
Anthony Kenny
Bob Satchwell
Judith Cullen
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner (observer)
Lord Lester is a Liberal Democrat peer. Paul Bettison is leader of Bracknell Forest borough council (Conservative) and Peter Bottomley is a Conservative MP.
Information about the political affiliations of the other members is not held. The membership has been drawn solely on the ability of the group to assist Government in ensuring that public authorities are responsive to the needs of the users of both the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts and the Environmental Information Regulations. Political affiliation was not used as criteria for the selection of the User Group members.
Hutton Inquiry
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to her answer of 3 May 2006, Official Report, column 1666W, on the Hutton Inquiry, who the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary were at 18 July 2003; and what public inquiries each had chaired before that date. [76337]
Ms Harman: The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary in July 2003 were as follows:
Lord Bingham of Cornhill
Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead
Lord Steyn
Lord Hoffmann
Lord Hope of Craighead
Lord Hutton
Lord Saville of Newdigate
Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough
Lord Millett
Lord Scott of Foscote
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe.
Public inquiries chaired by each before that date are as follows:
Investigation into the supply of petroleum and petroleum products to Rhodesia—Published 1977-78. Bingham Inquiry (Bank of Credit and Commerce International)—Published October 1992.
Scott Inquiry (Inquiry into Exports of Defence Equipment and Dual Use Goods to Iraq)—Published February 1996.
Bloody Sunday Inquiry: Commenced January 1998.
Hutton Inquiry—Published January 2004.
Illegal Immigrants
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many illegal immigrants have been discovered to be employed by her Department in each year since 2001; in what capacities they were employed; how many were discovered as part of a criminal investigation; and what the nature was of the charges brought against them. [73958]
Ms Harman: In the last five years, of those employed in my Department, (excluding agency workers, contractors and consultants) one individual was found, in 2005, to be an illegal immigrant. This individual was employed in a full-time post. He was discovered as the result of an Immigration Officer's investigation into his status. He had provided the correct documentation in obtaining his employment with the Department, but was subsequently found to have made a false statement in order to obtain those documents. He was dismissed immediately.
Immigration Appeals
Mr. Mudie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many immigration appeals from appellants in Leeds were heard in South Shields in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005. [76600]
Bridget Prentice: The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) operates a hearing centre at North Shields. Of the appeals heard at North Shields, in the period April to December 2005, 12 substantive appeals were from appellants with a home address in the Leeds postal area.
It is not possible to break down the substantive appeals by location of the appellant for any period prior to April 2005 without incurring disproportionate cost.
National Identity Card database
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment the Government have made of the merits of allowing the National Identity Card database to be used for electoral registration; and if she will make a statement. [78251]
Bridget Prentice: The Home Office set out the possible role of the National Identity Register and the National Identity Scheme in relation to electoral registration and voting in its evidence to the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs and ODPM: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committees published by the Committees on 16 March 2005.
Identity cards cannot become compulsory without further primary legislation. Unless, and until, that occurs, the National Identity Register (NIR) could not replace the existing electoral registration process where an annual canvass is used to establish electoral registers.
Any future proposal to use the NIR to replace the existing electoral registration process would need detailed exploration with the Home Office, and with stakeholders, including electoral registration officers and political parties.
While the NIR could have a role in improving the quality of the information held on the electoral register and could potentially support the electoral registration process if and when identity cards become mandatory, separate registers could still be required as there are likely to be individuals, such as citizens residing overseas, who may be entitled to vote but may not be on the NIR.
Parliamentary Boundaries
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 22 May 2006, Official Report, column 1472W, on parliamentary boundaries, when she expects the Committee on Standards in Public Life to publish its review of the functions of the Electoral Commission; and how long after the review is published she expects the Government to decide the timing for transferring responsibility for parliamentary boundaries to the Electoral Commission. [77392]
Bridget Prentice: The Committee on Standards in Public Life is independent of the Government and therefore the timing is not a matter for the Government to decide. However, we understand that the Committee aims to complete the review by the “turn of the year”. The Government will then consider the recommendations and make a decision as to the timing of the Boundary Commission transfers as soon as possible following publication of the Committee’s final report.
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