Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered question first ministerially corrected answering member label previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1007845

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2018
	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 steps his Department is taking to strengthen the integrity of the postal voting system.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	191906
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2018 answer text <p>The British public deserves to have confidence in our democracy and the Government is committed to ensuring that our electoral system is fit for the future.</p><p>Next year, Peterborough and Pendle will be piloting measures to improve the integrity of the postal and proxy vote process. This builds on similar pilots in 2018.</p><p>In addition, the Government is looking to introduce measures which will prohibit party campaigners from handling postal votes, and apply a limit to the number of postal ballots that any one individual can hand in at a polling station. The provisions will be backed up by a new offence, and will make a significant contribution to enhancing the security of postal voting. There is currently a Government supported Private Members’ Bill in the House of Commons looking to introduce this policy.</p><p>The Government is considering the way forward on the other recommendations made by Sir Eric Pickles, a number of which relate to absent voting, and will continue to consider how to improve the integrity of electoral processes more generally.</p><p>The Government is committed to strengthening our electoral processes and enhancing public confidence in the rigour of those democratic processes.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 23/11/2018 11:43:24 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1047782

	registered interest
	date	24/01/2019
	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 assessment he has made of the ease with which people travelling abroad can register to vote by proxy.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol East
	tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
	uin	212340
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The cost to taxpayers of delivering the 2016 EU Referendum was £129.1 million. A breakdown of that cost is provided in the report published by the Electoral Commission.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The then Government undertook publicity on EU membership ahead of the referendum. This cost an additional £9.3 million.</del></p><p> </p><p><del class="ministerial">The total cost to taxpayers was thus £138.4 million</del></p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Electors who are registered to vote but will be travelling abroad during the time of an election are able to apply for a proxy vote for that particular poll or polls. The application must be made in writing, it must include specific information about the elector and their proxy, and the reason for applying for a proxy.</ins></p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 29/01/2019 09:42:51 question first ministerially corrected 07/02/2019 16:30:44 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith previous answer version 97720 answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1055923

	registered interest
	date	06/02/2019
	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 recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the process by which people travelling overseas are able to register to vote by proxy.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol East
	tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
	uin	217505
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>Electors who are registered to vote but will be travelling abroad during the time of an election are able to apply for a proxy vote for that particular poll or polls. The application must be made in writing, it must include specific information about the elector and their proxy, and the reason for applying for a proxy.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 11/02/2019 10:30:56 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1132146

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2019
	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 steps his Department is taking to safeguard the electoral process in respect of postal voting.
	tabling member constituency	Sevenoaks
	tabling member printed	Sir Michael Fallon
	uin	264295
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>Electoral Fraud is unacceptable on any level. We have processes in place to defend against electoral fraud and there is ongoing work with electoral administrators and Royal Mail to implement these. In response to the Pickles report on electoral fraud, the Government accepted recommendations to strengthen the postal vote system and, in line with our manifesto commitment, we are working to reform postal voting to ensure our elections are secure.</p><p> </p><p>Cabinet Office coordinates cross-Government work to protect and secure our democratic processes and ensure those involved in delivering our elections receive cyber, physical and personnel security advice from experts at the National Cyber Security Centre and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 20/06/2019 14:21:46 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
	tabling member	88 label Biography information for Sir Michael Fallon

1285610

	registered interest
	date	10/02/2021
	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 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the (a) level of public awareness of postal voting and (b) the accessibility of the postal voting application process; and what steps he is taking to widen access to postal voting ahead of the May 2021 elections.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	152590
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/03/2021 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-02-02/147911" target="_blank">147911</a> on 9 February 2021.</p><p>The Government is working on finalising the funding allocations for the May 2021 elections, and Returning Officers and local authorities will be updated on their funding allocations for the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections respectively by the end of March.</p><p>There will be an estimated £92 million of government funding that will be provided to local authorities for the elections; of this, £31 million is an uplift to directly address costs associated with making the elections covid-secure.</p><p>For the Police and Crime Commissioner elections, Returning Officers will be reimbursed for expenses necessarily incurred for the smooth running of those polls via the usual process. Further detail of the potential fees and charges that Returning Officers can claim for in relation to any additional measures required to ensure covid-secure Police and Crime Commissioner elections in May is set out in guidance provided by the Cabinet Office to Returning Officers.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 152589 question first answered 02/03/2021 19:17:27 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

349837

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2015
	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 many postal votes were rejected nationally at the 2015 General Election; and what steps he is taking to ensure that people whose postal vote was rejected on that occasion will not encounter the same problem in the future.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	1996
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2015 answer text <p>The Government does not collate such information centrally.</p><p>In the previous Parliament, the Government legislated to require Electoral Registration Officers to write out to postal voters whose ballot papers were not included in the count because details on their postal voting statement could not be verified. These notifications give an explanation for the rejection and should be sent in the three months immediately following the poll.</p> answering member constituency Weston-super-Mare answering member printed John Penrose question first answered 16/06/2015 15:11:55 answering member 1584 label Biography information for John Penrose
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

521523

	registered interest
	date	25/05/2016
	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, if he will take steps to allow postal voting ballot papers to be counted separately in order to more easily detect fraud.
	tabling member constituency	East Yorkshire
	tabling member printed	Sir Greg Knight
	uin	38491
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2016 answer text <p>The law provides for the checking of the integrity of completed postal ballots prior to them being included in the count. Returning Officers are required to check 100% of postal vote identifiers (signatures and dates of birth) returned with completed postal votes against those supplied by the elector when they applied for a postal vote. Any that do not match will not be counted in order to prevent any attempt at electoral fraud. The law requires that postal ballot papers are mixed with ballot papers from a ballot box before they can be counted as a necessary step in order to help protect the secrecy of the ballot.</p> answering member constituency Weston-super-Mare answering member printed John Penrose question first answered 08/06/2016 16:09:38 answering member 1584 label Biography information for John Penrose
	tabling member	1200 label Biography information for Sir Greg Knight

758612

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2017
	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, if he will bring forward proposals to allow people to register for a postal vote online.
	tabling member constituency	Easington
	tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
	uin	9560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/09/2017 answer text <p>The Government has made a manifesto commitment to reform the postal vote system, as part of continued work to ensure that our electoral systems are the most secure in the world. Any decision of allowing applications to be made online will be part of that consideration.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/09/2017 13:54:04 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

759613

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2017
	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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an attestation arrangement for postal vote applications requiring a signature waiver.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	10236
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2017 answer text <p>Sir Eric Pickles’ review of Electoral Fraud, published in August 2016, recommended<br>introducing an attestation requirement for postal vote applications requiring a signature<br>waiver</p><p>The Government supports this recommendation and will be seeking to consider, in<br>conjunction with the Association of Electoral Administrators and the Electoral Commission,<br>how this might be implemented in due course.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 18/10/2017 14:52:30 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

760801

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2017
	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, if he will assess the merits of 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.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	105247
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2017 answer text <p>Electoral law is clear that a person must be included in the register of electors for a<br>poll in order to be entitled to vote at that poll. The Government recognises that it is<br>possible for postal ballot papers to be issued to a postal voter who may subsequently<br>be removed from the register to be used at the poll. We will look to review the current<br>provisions on the cancellation of postal ballot papers to see whether improvements<br>can be made to the law in this area.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 19/10/2017 11:00:01 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith