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Elections: Pilot Schemes
The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): The Government are continuing to look at ways to modernise our electoral system and to increase the opportunities that people have to vote. To test the effectiveness and robustness of these innovations and to build public confidence in them, we are continuing to conduct a programme of pilots in 2006 which maintains the momentum that was started in 2000.
With this aim in mind, at the end of October 2005, in conjunction with the Electoral Commission, we issued a prospectus inviting expressions of interest from local authorities seeking to run electoral pilots at the May 2006 local elections.
Today I am pleased to announce that I have accepted 16 applications from local authorities to hold pilots at the May 2006 local elections. The names of the successful local authorities are attached at the end of this Statement. A background paper providing further details on the pilots has been placed in the Library.
The local authorities will pilot innovations including:
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trials of changes to the administration of elections proposed in the Electoral Administration Bill, such as changes to the ballot paper to support more secure efficient production of postal votes and the checking of signatures on postal ballots;
voting in alternative locations such as shopping centres and rural locations to allow us to further test how voting in different locations and at different times can enhance access; and
electronic counting of ballots which will build on past work and test how this can be refined to ensure confidence and support future use of technology to gain efficiencies in the administration of elections. This will also enable us to identify how technology can support counting in the different voting systems used in local authority and regional elections.
Some of these pilots will assist us in planning the implementation of the proposals in the Electoral Administration Bill, in ensuring the ongoing integrity of electoral mechanisms and in refining and developing the programme of work for ensuring
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electoral processes fit with the needs of modern lifestyles.
The next step will be for us, working in consultation with the Electoral Commission and the local authorities, to draw up the statutory orders authorising the pilots.
We are grateful to all local authorities that applied to pilot in May 2006 and are keen to continue to engage local authorities in looking at innovative ways to improve the elections process and take advantage of new technologies.
Epping Forest District Council
Merseyside Authorities (Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens and Sefton)
Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council
Stratford-on-Avon District Council
Tyne and Wear Authorities (Gateshead, Newcastle, South Tyneside and Sunderland)
EU: Economic and Financial Affairs Council
Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Items on the agenda are as follows:
Stability and Growth Pact: ECOFIN will adopt council opinions on the stability programmes of Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria and the convergence programmes of Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia;
Lisbon Agenda: council will discuss the Commission annual progress report on the Lisbon Agenda and will hold a first debate on the ECOFIN key issues paper for spring European Council;
European Investment Bank Contribution to Growth and Employment: ECOFIN will discuss the role the European Investment Bank can play in promoting jobs and growth;
Ageing Report: ECOFIN will consider a report from the Economic Policy Committee on the impact of ageing populations on public spending;
Appointment to the European Central Bank Executive Board: council will consider the
- appointment of a successor to Otmar Issing to the European Central Bank executive board;
Vienna VAT Fraud Conference: ECOFIN will be debriefed on a conference held on 6-7 February to discuss VAT fraud issues.
House of Lords: Broadcasting
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): The Information Committee has recently made two changes to the arrangements for broadcasting in the House. These changes originate from the report Members Only? Parliament in the Public Eye by the Hansard Society Commission chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam.
From Monday 13 February to Thursday 16 March a trial will be held of a new protocol governing filming in the Chamber. The new protocol relaxes the rules and conventions that govern what the broadcasters can film when the House is sitting. The purpose of the new protocol is to enable broadcasters to provide more engaging footage of the business in the Chamber.
The new protocol is as follows:
The director filming the proceedings in the House of Lords Chamber should be free to select such shots as he believes appropriate in providing coverage of the business of the House.
These should include a greater variety of shots than used at present (including close ups, panning shots etc); and the freedom to select reaction shots beyond simply named or identified Peers in order to provide "tone" of coverage which reflects the mood of the House.
During Divisions the broadcasters should continue to receive a locked-off wide shot of the Chamber. Viewers will be able to hear some sound but this will just be a general "hubbub" and microphones will not be able to pick up specific conversations.
Shots unrelated to the business of the House will not be allowed (incidents of disorder; the Public Gallery; Peers "in the news" etc) and the camera team will be expected to maintain complete neutrality with regard to the competing demands of different broadcasters.
In order to discourage disorder, such incidents as may occur would be covered within the current disruption procedures for the Commons and Lords.
From Monday 13 February to Tuesday 25 July a trial will be held of a television interview point for broadcasters in the House of Lords. The point will be in the north-east corner of Peers Lobby, and the backdrop will be looking across the Lobby towards Brass Gates.
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Initially, broadcasters will be able only to record interviews from this point and not broadcast live. The BBC funded the provision of the facility in Central Lobby and, like the independent broadcasters, has expressed a clear interest in establishing a Lords interview point. However, no broadcaster has, at this stage, indicated any desire to fund a "live" technical link to their studios.
The trial will enable an assessment of the level of genuine interest among broadcast companies for such a facility. It will also allow the Information Committee to make an informed decision about whether a live interview point should be installed.
Immigration: Child Visitors
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): My honourable friend the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality (Tony McNulty) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I have, as of 12 February, made changes to the Immigration Rules regarding children coming to the United Kingdom with a visa or entry clearance issued for the purpose of a visit. Some of these are accompanied by adults; many are not accompanied by an adult even though it has in the past been possible to obtain a visa without declaring that this will be the nature of the journey made. These changes will, therefore, provide further safeguards for children when entering the UK as visitors.
We will require that a child seeking to visit the UK in their own right—that is, unaccompanied—must demonstrate that there are adequate arrangements for their care here and that they identify a person in their home country who is responsible for them. Where a visa national child is seeking entry to the UK as a visitor in the company of an adult, that adult must be identified, and the child's visa must identify the adult with whom they seek to enter.
At present a child can apply for entry clearance at the same time as other close family members, be granted an entry clearance, and then travel to the UK either alone or in the company of an adult other than one of those who applied for a visa along with them. This can allow children to enter the UK in the company of an adult who is either unrelated or with whom they have little connection. By doing this they can evade the extra scrutiny of the reception and care arrangements awaiting the child in the UK which is given to children who travel unaccompanied. Some instances can be well intentioned but highly irregular, but in others the child is used to facilitate fraud, and can endure serious physical harm. However, the main cause of concern is the subsequent difficulty in tracing these children.
The rules will now contain additional requirements for visa national children coming to the UK for a visit, be they travelling alone or with an adult. Each child will be issued with a separate entry clearance vignette. When applying for a visa for a child, the parent or guardian will be required to indicate whether the child
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will travel to the UK alone or with a nominated adult. The child's entry clearance will be endorsed to indicate the adult who will accompany the child. The entry clearance will not be valid for travel other than when accompanied by the identified adult. The visitor rules have been amended to reflect this (at paragraphs 41 to 46F of the Immigration Rules).
The changes will create an official and accessible record which is not there at the moment. These measures are aimed at tackling some of the problems associated with unaccompanied minors arriving in the United Kingdom, chief of which is the lack of information about their circumstances in their home country. They will contribute to the ability to act, where necessary, when individual children come to attention after arrival for welfare and other reasons. They will ensure that children who enter the UK in the company of an adult do so in a recorded way, with a specific destination for their future care, and with a record of their parents' details in the place where the entry clearance was issued. The records which this provision will allow us to keep will be a deterrent to abuse, as all those involved in the child's travel will be traceable.
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