| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Jun 2008 : Column 886W—continued
Economic and Monetary Union
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what date (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies last updated their euro changeover plans; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the most recent version of each. [211115]
Mr. Wills: The former DCA had a detailed Euro Changeover Plan in place by the end of 2004, as requested by HM Treasury. The plan was reviewed regularly, with the latest Highlight Report dated March 2006. This plan covered the following areas:
DCA Corporate HQ
Courts Service
Court Funds Office
Information Commissioners Office
Judge Advocate General
Judicial Studies Board
Law Commission
Legal Services Commission
Legal Services Ombudsman
Official Solicitor and Public Trustee
Public Guardianship Office
Scotland Office
Tribunals Directorate (separate Agency from April 2006)
Wales Office
Land Registry.
There are no plans at present to place a copy in the Library.
The prisons and probation services and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform were included in the Home Office plan. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will be responding to the question in respect of the Home Office.
Elections: Fraud
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to prevent the opportunities for electoral fraud identified in the judgment on electoral fraud in Slough; and if he will make a statement. [210940]
Bridget Prentice: We have noted the findings and comments in the judgment of the election court. Since 2005, the Government have introduced a range of new measures to strengthen the integrity of our electoral system, and there have been very few proven incidences of fraud since the new measures were brought into force. They include:
Clear new powers for electoral administrators to cross-check applications to register to vote against other information the council holds.
New requirement for electors to provide personal identifiers (signature and date of birth) if they wish to have a postal vote. The identifiers must be replicated by electors when they subsequently cast their postal vote, and will be cross-checked with the original samples to ensure the postal vote is valid.
Administrators get more time to check postal vote applications because people have to apply for a postal vote a minimum of 11 working days before the close of poll (the previous minimum was six days).
Postal vote applicants have to specify a reason if they want their postal vote to be sent to an address other than that at which they are registered.
Electoral administrators write to everyone who has applied for a postal vote at their registered address acknowledging receipt of their application and confirming the outcome—this will alert people to any applications for postal votes made falsely on their behalf.
The Government are working to improve the electoral register, and agree in principle with individual registration. However, the ground needs to be prepared; unlike Northern Ireland, where there had been a perception of over-registration, in Great Britain there is an issue of under-registration, with in the region of 3.5 million eligible electors not on the electoral register. A rapid and unplanned move to individual registration would exacerbate that situation.
We will take account of the election court's judgment in any further development on electoral registration and postal voting processes and legislation.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the level of postal vote fraud. [210959]
Bridget Prentice: Overall, the incidence of postal voting fraud remains relatively low. It is also apparent that the cases that have arisen relate to only a small number of authorities across the country.
However, the Government take the risk of electoral fraud extremely seriously. We have put in place a range of measures to safeguard the security of postal voting. These include the introduction of a system of personal identifiers for postal voters to ensure that postal votes counted at an election are valid. We are also continuing to work closely with the Electoral Commission, police, political parties and returning officers to raise awareness and strengthen systems to ensure that fraud is detected and prosecuted.
Electoral Register
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what estimate he has made of the number of people eligible but not registered to vote in each of the last 11 years, broken down by region; and what assessment he has made of the effects of individual voter registration on the level of voter registration; [211365]
(2) what the average rate of voter registration is in the 100 (a) least and (b) most deprived wards; what assessment he has made of the effects of individual voter registration on the rate of registration in such wards; and if he will make a statement. [211366]
Bridget Prentice: The Government have not made any estimate of the number of people eligible but not registered to vote in each of the last 11 years, as such information is not available for all of that period. However, the Electoral Commission estimated that 3.5 million eligible electors were not registered to vote in its report ‘Understanding Electoral Registration’, which was published in 2005.
It is not known what the average rate of voter registration is in the 100 (a) least and (b) most deprived wards as this information is not collected, but we are aware that any new system of electoral registration in Great Britain would need to be tailored to current circumstances, and in particular would need to address the challenge of under-registration.
The Government are committed to the principle of individual registration. But this will be a far-reaching reform, and it will need to be undertaken with great care—both to make sure a new system is robust, and to ensure that it properly tackles the problem of under-registration.
Our vision for electoral registration is clear: we want to protect the rights of every eligible person to participate in the United Kingdom's democratic process by ensuring complete, accurate and secure electoral registration.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many and what proportion of those eligible were registered to vote in each ward in Denbighshire in each of the last 11 years; [211367]
(2) what the change in level of voter registration among eligible people has been in those 50 (a) constituencies and (b) local authority wards with the lowest level of voter registration in 2001 since that date, ranked in descending order by magnitude of change. [211464]
Mr. Watson: I have been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your questions asking how many and what proportion of those eligible were registered to vote in each ward in Denbighshire in each of the last 11 years (211367) and what the change in level of voter registration among eligible people has been in those 50 (a) constituencies and (b) local authority wards with the lowest level of voter registration in 2001 since that date, ranked in descending order by magnitude of change. (211464).
Figures for the Parliamentary electorate for each ward in Denbighshire from 1996 to 2007 are provided in Tables la and 1b.
ONS does not hold data for the population eligible to vote in parliamentary elections, which includes British Citizens resident overseas and excludes foreign citizens (from outside the British Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland) resident within the England and Wales.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |