The
Committee consisted of the following
Members:
Boswell,
Mr. Tim
(Daventry)
(Con)
Gray,
Mr. James
(North Wiltshire)
(Con)
Hesford,
Stephen
(Wirral, West)
(Lab)
Howarth,
David
(Cambridge)
(LD)
Iddon,
Dr. Brian
(Bolton, South-East)
(Lab)
Laing,
Mrs. Eleanor
(Epping Forest)
(Con)
Lucas,
Ian
(Wrexham) (Lab)
Oaten,
Mr. Mark
(Winchester)
(LD)
Owen,
Albert
(Ynys Môn)
(Lab)
Ruane,
Chris
(Vale of Clwyd)
(Lab)
Taylor,
Mr. Ian
(Esher and Walton)
(Con)
Vis,
Dr. Rudi
(Finchley and Golders Green)
(Lab)
Wills,
Mr. Michael
(Minister of State, Ministry of
Justice)
Winnick,
Mr. David
(Walsall, North)
(Lab)
Wright,
Mr. Anthony
(Great Yarmouth)
(Lab)
Wright,
Jeremy
(Rugby and Kenilworth)
(Con)
Gosia McBride, Committee
Clerk
attended the
Committee
Third
Delegated Legislation
Committee
Wednesday 25
February
2009
[John
Bercow in the
Chair]
Draft
Representation of the People (Amendment) Regulations
2009
2.30
pm
The
Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Mr. Michael
Wills): I beg to
move,
That
the Committee has considered the draft Representation of the People
(Amendment) Regulations
2009.
The
Chairman: With this it will be convenient to consider the
draft European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens
of the Union) (Amendment) Regulations
2009.
Mr.
Wills: It is a pleasure to be under your august
chairmanship for these important statutory instruments, Mr.
Bercow. Your wisdom will guide us.
I am grateful
that the Committee has agreed that the statutory instruments can be
taken together. One relates wholly to the European parliamentary
elections to be held in the United Kingdom on 4 June this year and
forms an important part of the Governments preparations for
those elections. The other has a link to the elections but includes
separate provisions relating to anonymous registration for eligible
electors.
Both
statutory instruments have been subject to consultation with the
Electoral Commission and other stakeholders, and as a result of
suggestions from the Scotland Office and the Northern Ireland Office
the draft Representation of the People (Amendment) Regulations 2009
have been revised and amended where appropriate. We were not required
to consult the commission about the draft European Parliamentary
Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) (Amendment)
Regulations 2009, but we sought its view in any event.
The draft
Representation of the People (Amendment) Regulations 2009 amend the
Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 and
the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001. In
summary, the amendments will make minor but important changes to
applications for anonymous entries in the electoral register. They
modify provisions relating to the registration of overseas peers for
European parliamentary elections, primarily to ensure consistency with
other changes in electoral registration, and provide for a free copy of
the electoral register to be supplied to the Statistics Board, which
carries out the statistical functions of the Office for National
Statistics.
As Committee
members are aware, anonymous registration of electors came into force
on 1 June 2007 following Royal Assent of the Electoral Administration
Act 2006. It allows an eligible person to register to vote without
their name and address appearing on the electoral register. In essence,
anonymous registration helps to
protect vulnerable people in society whose safety may be at risk if
their details were made public. The Government are aware that that
method of registration has been taken up in moderate numbers by those
whom it was designed to helpfor example, those who have
suffered domestic abuse or have been harassed or stalked, or who are
witnesses in criminal cases. That demonstrates that the strict criteria
for obtaining anonymous registration are working: it is not being
abused or used as a sort of ex-directory
system.
Applications
for anonymous registration must, as Committee members are aware, be
accompanied by evidence in the form of an attestation by a qualifying
officer confirming that the safety of the applicant or another person
in the applicants household would be at risk if the register
contained the applicants name or address; or a relevant court
order or injunction, as listed in the
regulations.
Mr.
Mark Oaten (Winchester) (LD): Does the Minister have the
figures for the percentage of individuals on the electoral roll who
have sought anonymous listing?
Mr.
Wills: I do not want to mislead the hon. Gentleman
by giving an inaccurate figure now, but I am happy to write to him with
the precise figures. We are clear that it is a moderate number and I
will give him an up-to-date figure in due
course.
Mr.
James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): I am most grateful to
my political neighbour for giving way. I am afraid that that answer is
pretty poor. If we are bringing in a statutory instrument, surely we
should know, roughly speaking, how many people have been using the
provision so farany vague approximation will do, even a figure
within a few
hundred.
Mr.
Wills: With all due respect to my political
neighbour from North Wiltshire, I shall point out two things, and I
welcome the intense interest that these statutory instruments are
already exciting at this early stage in the proceedings. I am extremely
grateful to hon. Members who have paid such close attention to what I
am saying. I am sure that we all welcome the process of democratic
scrutiny, but if I may be allowed to proceed, the hon. Gentleman will
see that his point is not that relevant to the main purpose of what I
am about to say, but I am happy to address it none the less.
The
provisions came into effect relatively recently, are changing all the
time and the numbers involved are quite small. I do not want to mislead
members of the Committee by giving them a precise figure now, but given
that this subject attracts such intense interest, I will write to
everyone in due course with an accurate figure as of the moment of
writing. I hope that they will accept that the figures are relatively
moderate.
We
are confident that the system is working and is not being abused, but
we want to make some changes, which I will now outline, explaining why
we want to make them. If no further interests are evinced at this point
by members of the Committee, I will
proceed.
Mrs.
Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con): Quit while you are
ahead.
Mr.
Wills: I will quit while I am ahead, as the hon. Lady
helpfully
says.
Todays
amendments will change what constitutes a qualifying officer and the
types of court orders and injunctions that may be used in evidence to
support an application. Given that so much interest has already been
shown in the proceedings, I very much hope that the Committee will
support the amendments. They are designed to help the efficiency of the
process and to relieve hard-pressed public servants in the performance
of their duties.
On qualifying
officers, we are making changes to the level of police officer who is
able to attest applications. The current regulations allow only a chief
officer or chief constable to attest applications. In practice, that
means that when a member of the public presents an application to their
local police station for attestation, it has to be transmitted to the
chief officer in the force for signing. The hon. Member for North
Wiltshire knows that his constituencys police authority covers
a very wide area, which puts a considerable administrative and
logistical burden on the Wiltshire constabulary in some parts of the
constituency. I am sure that he will join me in welcoming anything that
relieves the burdens on the Wiltshire constabulary in performing its
excellent
task.
Mr.
Gray: Will the right hon. Gentleman give
way?
Mr.
Wills: I am very happy to give way, and I hope that the
hon. Gentleman will agree with me on this
occasion.
Mr.
Gray: I do of course agree entirely that the Wiltshire
police are absolutely outstanding, which is why I am wondering how much
of their burden we are seeking to relieve. For example, how many
anonymous registrations have borne down on the unfortunate chief
constable of
Wiltshire?
Mr.
Wills: I will be extremely happy to take up the hon.
Gentlemans request and incur further public expense by
investigating the matter. I am sure that the Wiltshire constabulary
will welcome the interest in the issue and the time and trouble that it
will take it to find the answer. I will approach the constabulary on
the hon. Gentlemans behalf and provide him with an answer. I
hope that he will agree that, if we can remove any additional burden
from the Wiltshire constabularywhether large or
smallthat should be
welcomed.
Mr.
Gray indicated assent.
Mr.
Wills: The hon. Gentleman is nodding vigorously in
assent.
As
I was saying, in practice, when a member of the public goes to a police
station, attestation has to be transmitted to the chief officer in the
force for signing. We need to make that process simpler for both the
applicant and the police, and the draft statutory instrument allows for
police officers of the rank of superintendent and above to attest
applications. In most circumstances, applicants will now be able to
have the attestation undertaken at their local police station. That is
surely to the advantage of the applicant and is certainly of benefit to
the police.
Secondly, we
are also making changes to qualifying officers in relation to directors
of social services. As it stands under the current regulations in
England and Wales, an attestation signed by a director of adult social
services or childrens services in England can only be used in
support of an application for anonymous registration in England, and an
attestation signed by a director of social services in Wales can only
be used in support of an application made in Wales. Furthermore,
equivalent office holders in Scotland and Northern Ireland are not
included as qualifying
officers.
The
amendments made by the draft statutory instrument will ensure that an
attestation signed by a director of social services in England or Wales
can be submitted in support of an application for anonymous
registration anywhere in England or Wales. It also includes any chief
social work officer in Scotland within the meaning of qualifying
officer. The amendments will make the 2001 England and Wales
regulations consistent with the current 2001 Scotland regulations in
that respect. The draft statutory instrument also amends the 2001
England and Wales regulations and the 2001 Scotland regulations to
include within the meaning of qualifying officer any
director of social services of a Northern Ireland health and social
services board and any executive director of social work for a Northern
Ireland health and social services trust.
We are also
making amendments to the types of court orders and injunctions that may
be presented as evidence in support of an application for anonymous
registration to include those issued under Northern Ireland
legislation. Currently, an applicant for anonymous registration who
has, for example, attained a restraining order in Northern Ireland
could not use that order as evidence for an application for anonymous
registration in England, Wales or Scotland. The amendments will ensure
that, no matter where a specified order or injunction is granted in the
UK, it can be submitted in support of an application for anonymous
registration.
Moving
on to other amendments within the Representation of the People
(Amendment) Regulations 2009, the Representation of the People Act 1985
enables peers who are resident overseas to vote at European
parliamentary elections. The current regulations apply, with
modifications, certain legislative provisions for the purpose of
registration for this category of elector. As part of our preparation
work for the European parliamentary elections in June 2009 we
identified the need to update these regulations, primarily to reflect
recent changes to the system of registration for parliamentary and
local government electors. In particular, the effect of an amendment to
the 1985 Act made by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 is that an
overseas peer who has an anonymous entry in the register of local
government electors will not be able to satisfy the conditions of
entitlement to vote at European parliamentary elections. Consistent
with this, the draft statutory instrument amends the current
regulations to reflect the fact that anonymous registration does not
apply to overseas peers for purposes of European parliamentary
elections.
Minor
amendments are also made to ensure that the legislative framework for
the registration of overseas peers is workable and internally
consistent. We understand that the number of peers likely to be
affected by these amendments is smallONS registration figures
for 2007 reveal that only five peers were registered as European
parliamentary overseas electors.
Finally in
respect of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Regulations
2009, we are making a minor amendment to the 2001 England and Wales
regulations and the 2001 Scotland regulations to provide for a free
copy of the electoral register to be supplied to the Statistics Board.
This change is made as a consequence of the Statistics and Registration
Service Act 2007, which vests the Office for National
Statistics functions of producing statistics in the Statistics
Board, so we are tidying up this provision in line with
that.
I
will now deal with the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of
Relevant Citizens of the Union) (Amendment) Regulations 2009. These
amend the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant
Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001, which provide for the
registration of relevant citizens of the European Union who are
resident in the UK as European parliamentary electors. These amendments
are necessary as they relate to the European parliamentary elections
scheduled for 4 June. The 2001 regulations give effect to the
requirements of the European Council directive 93/109/EC, which
concerns the arrangements in respect of the right to vote in elections
of the European Parliament for citizens of the Union living in a member
state of which they are not nationals. The 2009 regulations amend the
2001 regulations to incorporate recent changes made to the system of
registration for parliamentary and local government electors, following
the implementation of provisions inserted into the Representation of
the People Act 1983 by the Electoral Administration Act
2006. The amendments made by the 2009 regulations ensure consistency
between the registration systems for parliamentary and local government
elections and European parliamentary elections, and they ensure that
relevant citizens of the Union are afforded the same protections as
other voters.
In summary,
the amendments will apply new provisions on late registration; they
will apply new provisions on anonymous registration in England, Wales
and Scotland; and they will apply changes to the procedure for
determining applications for, and objections to,
registrations.
As members of
the Committee will recall, late registration came into force on 1
January 2007 and it allows eligible voters to register up to 11 days
before the poll. Before this provision was introduced, the cut-off
point was approximately six to eight weeks before the poll, which meant
that many eligible people were unable to register to vote when they
realised that an election was scheduled. The Government want this
provision extended to include relevant citizens of the Union who vote
at European parliamentary elections, which is the reason why we have
amended the 2001
regulations.
As
I mentioned earlier, anonymous registration came into force on 1 June
2007. The amendment that we are bringing forward in this statutory
instrument will allow relevant citizens of the Union who apply to
register in the European parliamentary elections to also apply to
register under an anonymous
entry.