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869515

	registered interest
	date	22/03/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Absent Voting
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how his Department plans to evaluate the postal vote pilots; what indicators will be used to measure the success of those pilots; what methods will be used to collect the information relating to those pilots; who will be responsible for implementing the evaluation plan; and how and when the results of that evaluation will be shared.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	134029
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2018 answer text <p>The British public deserves to have confidence in our democracy and the Government is committed to making sure that our electoral system is fit for the future.</p><p>Woking, Gosport, Bromley, Swindon and Watford have committed to pilot voter ID in May 2018 and Tower Hamlets, Slough and Peterborough are piloting measures to improve the security of the postal vote process.</p><p>The pilot authorities, Cabinet Office and the Electoral Commission have worked collaboratively to agree what information will be collected from the pilots and how it will be collected.</p><p>The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings following the May elections, in the summer of 2018.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 134027 question first answered 27/03/2018 13:09:03 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

915143

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Absent Voting
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the implications are for the Government's policies of recommendation 17 of the report of the Association of Electoral Administrators entitled It’s time for urgent and positive Government action: The AEA’s review of the 2017 local government elections and the UK Parliamentary general election, published in September 2017, on the Government introducing a process to cancel a postal ballot paper issued to an elector who is subsequently deleted from the electoral register during an election period as a matter of urgency.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148935
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2018 answer text <p>Electoral law is clear that a person must be included in the register of electors for a poll in order to be entitled to vote at that poll. The Government recognises that it is possible for postal ballot papers to be issued to a postal voter who may subsequently be removed from the register to be used at the poll. The Electoral Commission has issued guidance explaining that postal ballot papers returned under these circumstances cannot be counted. We will look to review the current provisions on the cancellation of postal ballot papers to see whether improvements can be made to the law in this area.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 08/06/2018 14:04:26 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

915144

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Absent Voting
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the implications are for the Government's policies of recommendation 18 of the report of the Association of Electoral Administrators entitled It’s time for urgent and positive Government action: The AEA’s review of the 2017 local government elections and the UK Parliamentary general election, published in September 2017, on the Government undertaking a review a full and thorough review of absent voting arrangements.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148936
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2018 answer text <p>We consider elections processes and policy on an ongoing basis, and are working with the electoral stakeholders to consider the development and improvement of existing processes, including in relation to the procedures for absent voting arrangements.</p><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 08/06/2018 14:08:37 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

915145

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Absent Voting: British Nationals Abroad
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the implications are for the Government's policies of recommendation 20 of the report of the Association of Electoral Administrators entitled It’s time for urgent and positive Government action: The AEA’s review of the 2017 local government elections and the UK Parliamentary general election, published in September 2017, on the Government evaluating the effectiveness and future use of the International Business Response Licence for postal votes being sent overseas ahead of the next set of national polls.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148937
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2018 answer text <p>The Government is committed to ensuring that electors can cast their vote and will continue to look for ways to assist electors to do so. The International Business Response Service is a means of assisting the return of postal votes from abroad and helped to ensure that over 80,000 postal votes were recorded back from overseas by Royal Mail leading up to polling day on 8 June 2017. Almost 100,000 items were recorded back from overseas at the EU Referendum in 2016.</p><p> </p><p>The Electoral Commission evaluated its use after the 2016 Referendum and decided it was value for money in terms of the number of votes returned by the process and recommended we use it for the General Election.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 20/06/2018 11:19:25 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

882231

	registered interest
	date	13/04/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Absent Voting: Pilot Schemes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the local statutory orders for the proxy and postal voting pilots in Peterborough, Slough and Tower Hamlets.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	135252
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2018 answer text <p>Electoral fraud is unacceptable on any level, and vulnerabilities cannot be allowed to continue and undermine the integrity of our democracy.</p><p>In his report of his review into electoral fraud Sir Eric Pickles recommended that the requirement to provide ID in polling stations should apply to proxy voters. He also recommended that guidance should be provided in postal vote packs on the secrecy of the vote and how to report electoral fraud.</p><p>Tower Hamlets, Slough and Peterborough are piloting measures to improve the security of the postal vote process, including providing additional information in postal vote packs to help voters report any suspicions of electoral fraud.</p><p>The Orders to enable the proxy and postal voting pilots in Peterborough, Slough and Tower Hamlets have been published on gov.uk - <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/postal-and-proxy-vote-pilot-schemes" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/postal-and-proxy-vote-pilot-schemes</a></p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 18/04/2018 16:07:00 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

914845

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Ballot Papers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of the design of ballot papers for people who have difficulties of sight.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148880
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2018 answer text <p>The Government has improved the design and accessibility of ballot papers and forms at elections and referendums. This involved public user-testing of the revised voting forms, including the ballot paper, poll cards and postal voting statements. The work took into account the findings in the Electoral Commission’s “Making your mark” report and made improvements to forms which voters use in order to make voting as accessible as possible.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>People who have visual impairments are further supported to vote independently through each polling station being equipped with a tactile voting device and the availability of large print copies of the ballot paper. Through the work its expert Accessibility of Elections Working Group, which includes the Royal National Institute of Blind People, the Government continues to consider how the voting experience of blind and visually impaired people can be further improved.</p><p> </p><p>A change has also been made to the Certificate of Visual Impairment in England by the Department of Health to allow local authorities, when registering people for the certificate, to expressly signpost them to the local authority electoral services team for support. This has been facilitated through an amendment to care and support statutory guidance.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 11/06/2018 16:03:42 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

915050

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Ballot Papers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New Electoral Laws proposed to combat intimidation in public life, published on 6 February 2018, what progress has been made on removing the requirement for candidates’ home addresses to be included on ballot papers.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148916
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2018 answer text <p>The Government is committed to removing the requirement for candidates standing as local councillors to have their home addresses published on the ballot paper. This requirement will be replaced with an option to include a statement of residence based on an electoral area the candidate lives in rather than having to include a specific address, in line with the provisions in place for candidates at UK parliamentary elections. We are currently working through the detail in discussion with relevant stakeholders, including what level of location information is appropriate, and how the provisions will be implemented in practice.</p><p> </p><p>As part of this work, we will consider the existing requirements for the publication of the home address of election agents.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 148917 question first answered 07/06/2018 09:49:03 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

915139

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Ballot Papers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the implications are for the Government's policies of recommendation 8 of the report of the Association of Electoral Administrators entitled It’s time for urgent and positive Government action: The AEA’s review of the 2017 local government elections and the UK Parliamentary general election, published in September 2017, on the Government removing the absolute requirement to count unused ballot papers as part of the verification process and to replace it with a requirement to do so only where the Returning Officer considers it appropriate.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148931
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2018 answer text <p>We consider elections processes and policy on an ongoing basis, and we work with the Association of Electoral Administrators, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Electoral Commission to consider the development and improvement of existing processes, including in relation to the procedures for the counting of votes at elections.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 08/06/2018 14:12:07 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1244054

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2020
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Ballot Papers: Visual Impairment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to ensure that blind and partially sighted people can receive their poll cards in preferred formats.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	104226
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to ensuring that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote and has already been working with the RNIB to improve the voting process for voters with sight loss.</p><p>It is important for security purposes that a physical poll card is sent to every elector at the property where they are registered, but we have already considered how electoral information might additionally be made available in more accessible format for those who request it.</p><p>Returning Officers already publish details of candidates in the order they will appear on the ballot paper online. We will work with partners in the electoral sector to ensure this information is accessible.</p><p>The Government will continue to work with the RNIB, the Electoral Commission and other relevant organisations to make blind and partially sighted voters aware of the support available to them at the polling station, and to consider what additional support could be provided to help blind and partially sighted people to vote including by post.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 104091 104166 104167 104227 question first answered 22/10/2020 16:55:16 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1247058

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Ballot Papers: Visual Impairment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2020 to Question 104226 in Ballot Papers: Visual Impairment, which accessible formats they are considering providing alongside physical poll cards for blind and partially sighted people who request them.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	109463
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>Further to the answer to <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-10-15/104226" target="_blank">PQ104226</a>, announcements will be made in the usual way.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 09/11/2020 17:32:05 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith