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1307699

registered interest
date	12/04/2021
answering body	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
answering dept id	36
answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the hon. Member for City of Chester, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent estimate the Commission has made of the number of eligible people who are (a) not on the electoral register and (b) not registered correctly; and how the Commission calculated those estimates.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	179211
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2021 answer text <p>The Commission carries out research studies on the accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers. These are based on an established, robust methodology involving house-to-house interviewing across the UK. The most recent study, published in 2019, found that 83% of people eligible to appear on a local government register in Great Britain were correctly registered.</p><p>The findings from this research can be used, with the Office for National Statistic's population estimates, to estimate that between 8.3 and 9.4 million people in Great Britain were not correctly registered. This estimate includes people not on a register, and people on a register but not at their current and therefore correct address. It is not possible, however, to provide a specific estimate for each category seperately.</p> answering member constituency City of Chester answering member printed Christian Matheson question first answered 15/04/2021 09:05:30 answering member 4408 label Biography information for Christian Matheson
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1303905

registered interest
date	18/03/2021
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
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, how much funding his Department allocated to improving voter registration in the UK in (a) 2018, (b) 2019 and (c) 2020.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	171643
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2021 answer text <p>Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have the statutory responsibility for compiling and maintaining complete and accurate registers for their local areas. The Electoral Commission (EC) is responsible for providing guidance and resources to help EROs and their staff in running electoral registration, for setting standards, and for monitoring the performance of EROs. The Commission runs campaigns to raise awareness of how people can register to vote, and how to cast their vote.</p><p>The Government ensures that EROs have the tools that they need to do their job efficiently. For example, changes to the annual canvass in Great Britain has provided EROs with greater flexibility to target their resources where they are needed, rather than on the majority of properties, where nothing has changed.</p><p>The Government is committed to encouraging democratic engagement amongst all electors, including underrepresented groups. Since 2013, the Government has provided more than £27m to fund activities to promote electoral registration and democratic engagement more widely.</p><p>Third-party organisations delivered events and activities during National Democracy Week (NDW), and the Government facilitated workshops with Democratic Engagement Champions in preparation for the week. The Government has no plans to run NDW in 2021. Instead, the Government will focus on its unique responsibilities as legislator, funder and promoter of good practice.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 171644 171645 171646 171647 question first answered 23/03/2021 17:53:56 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1251331

registered interest
date	12/11/2020
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
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 steps his Department is taking to introduce automatic voter registration in response to the recommendations from the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	114939
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2020 answer text <p>Electoral Registration Officers have statutory responsibility for maintaining complete and accurate electoral registers for their areas. The Government seeks to make registration as easy as possible and to work with many others to reduce any barriers to registration. We encourage everyone who is eligible to register to vote, and registering to vote has never been easier or more convenient.</p><p>The Government opposes automatic registration as it contradicts the principle that individuals are responsible for registering and that this should be done at a time and place of their choosing. Automatic registration would raise privacy and security concerns. It would also risk introducing errors and inaccuracies to the registers, creating unwarranted opportunities for fraud.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 114938 question first answered 17/11/2020 17:08:32 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1197966

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many electoral registrations officers were employed in (a) total and (b) each parliamentary constituency in (i) 2016, (ii) 2017, (iii) 2018 and (iv) 2019.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	52144
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2020 answer text <p>The UK Government is working with the Electoral Commission, Association of Electoral Administrators and Society of Local Government Chief Executives, and with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, to consider measures to support the effective delivery of all the elections now scheduled for May 2021, including registration services.</p><p>Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are appointed by individual local authorities and Valuation Joint Boards under the Representation of the People Act 1983. The Cabinet Office does not hold records of the number of EROs employed.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 52145 question first answered 09/06/2020 14:28:53 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1142786

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
answering dept id	36
answering dept short name	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
answering dept sort name	Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the Commission's most recent estimate is for the number of eligible people who are (a) not on the electoral register and (b) not registered correctly; and how the Commission calculated this estimate.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	284173
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Electoral Commission undertakes periodic research into the accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers in the UK. Information is collected from a sample of households, and details of residents are then matched against actual register entries to generate the estimates of accuracy and completeness.</p><p>The last study assessed the December 2015 registers and was published in 2016. The Commission found that:</p><ul><li>In Great Britain, the local government registers were 84% complete, meaning that 16% of eligible electors did not have a correct register entry.</li><li>In Northern Ireland, the local government register were 79% complete, meaning that 21% of eligible electors did not have a correct register entry.</li></ul><p>By applying these estimates to Office for National Statistics data, the Commission calculated that:</p><ul><li>In Great Britain, between 7.8 and 8.5 million eligible people were not correctly registered.</li><li>In Northern Ireland, between 275,000 and 330,000 eligible people were not correctly registered.</li></ul><p>This does not mean that these people were entirely missing from the registers; many will have had an entry at a previous address. It is not possible to determine this figure because of the absence of a consistent, unique identifier for individual electors on the registers.</p><p>The results of the Commission’s next accuracy and completeness study will be published in the coming months.</p> answering member constituency Houghton and Sunderland South answering member printed Bridget Phillipson question first answered 09/09/2019 10:25:50 answering member 4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson previous answer version 133439 answering member constituency Houghton and Sunderland South answering member printed Bridget Phillipson answering member 4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1142797

registered interest
date	02/09/2019
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
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, when the Government plans to publish the draft Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment) Regulations 2019.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	284449
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>While the current annual canvass is effective overall in meeting its objectives, it is widely<br>recognised to be outdated, cumbersome and expensive.</p><p>Following consultation with stakeholders, the Government intends to use its powers under section 7 of the Electoral<br>Registration and Administration Act 2013 to amend the legislation governing the annual<br>canvass to make it more streamlined and less prescriptive for Electoral Registration<br>Officers. The draft Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment)<br>Regulations 2019 will be laid before Parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows.</p> answering member constituency Torbay answering member printed Kevin Foster question first answered 09/09/2019 10:24:24 answering member 4451 label Biography information for Kevin Foster
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1079587

registered interest
date	01/03/2019
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2019 to Question, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the compatibility of registration officers’ systems for managing registration data between local authority areas.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	227388
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government has no immediate plans to assess the potential merits of requiring the compatibility of registration officers’ systems for managing registration data between local authority areas. All registration officers’ systems have compatibility with the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service (IERDS), which allows Electoral Registration Officers to notify other officers of moved electors, as well as other functionalities. Cabinet Office officials are, however, working on a continual basis to ensure all necessary improvements are made to the IERDS to ensure it serves the needs of local Electoral Registration Officers.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 07/03/2019 16:56:31 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1077288

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the compatibility of registration officers’ systems for managing registration data.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	225545
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2019 answer text <p>With the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in 2014, the Cabinet Office worked with the Electoral Management Systems (EMS) providers to ensure they were compatible with the Government’s IER Digital Service. Compatibility with the IER Digital Service means that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) can manage registration data through their EMS by downloading applications submitted through the Register to Vote website, uploading applications to be verified with the Department of Work and Pensions, and notifying other EROs about electors who have moved from their area. We continue to work with the suppliers to ensure any changes to the IER Digital Service retain compatability with the EMSs.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 28/02/2019 10:35:01 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1020275

registered interest
date	05/12/2018
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to section 8 of his Department's policy statement, Proposals for reform of the annual canvass, published on 5 October 2018, how his Department defines potential electors.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	199441
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) sometimes have information to indicate that a person is resident at a given address but is not yet registered to vote at that address. Such people are pending or potential electors.</p><p> </p><p>The information indicating that an elector is resident at an address could have come from various sources. For example, it may have been provided by the potential elector themselves, if they have applied to register to vote but their application has not yet been determined. Alternatively, their name might have been added to a Household Enquiry Form returned to the ERO as part of the annual canvass. Or the ERO may have obtained information from local data sources, such as council tax records. Individual citizens can only be added to the register once they have completed an application which allows the ERO to determine their eligibility.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 10/12/2018 17:23:04 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

1020281

registered interest
date	05/12/2018
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Electoral Register
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to section 9 of his Department's policy statement, Proposals for reform of the annual canvass, published on 5 October 2018, how the Behavioural Insight Team has been involved in communications and the design of registration forms.
tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
tabling member printed	Cat Smith
uin	199442
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/12/2018 answer text <p>The Electoral Commission (EC) has responsibility for designing registration forms, which are subject to the approval of the Minister for the Cabinet Office following consultation with the Scottish Ministers in respect of forms for use in Scotland and the Welsh Ministers in respect of forms for use in Wales.</p><p>We are working closely with the Electoral Commission on the implementation of canvass reform. Canvass reform will lead to new requirements for canvass forms. We understand the EC intends to undertake user testing on the new forms, with a view to making sure the forms are as clear as possible for the citizen.</p><p>The Electoral Commission has worked with the Behavioural Insight Team on certain forms of registration correspondence. Information is available here: https://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/trial-results/improving-the-annual-electoral-canvass/</p><p>EROs are free to offer a range of ways to respond to a Higher Education Framework. Currently, many EROs offer text message, online and paper-based response methods. As part of canvass reform, we intend to with EROs and the Electoral Commission to make sure it is as easy as possible for citizens to respond to requests for information from their local ERO.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith grouped question UIN 199444 question first answered 10/12/2018 17:49:15 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith