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905388

	registered interest
	date	16/05/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	Whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of reducing the voting age to 16 in local government elections; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	905322
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2018 answer text <p>The Government stated in its manifesto a commitment to maintain the current voting age at 18. The age of 18 is widely recognised as the age at which one becomes an adult and gains full citizenship rights. The Government therefore has no plans to lower the voting age.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 16/05/2018 13:04:04 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

917364

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2018
	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	Local Government: Elections
	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, with reference to the correspondence of April 2018 between the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Electoral Commission scrutinised the Equality Impact Assessments carried out by the five local authorities participating in the voter ID pilots; and at what point that scrutiny took place.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	150177
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2018 answer text <p><strong>The Electoral Commission offered, during the set-up of the pilots, to comment on the Equality Impact Assessment produced by each pilot area. </strong></p><p><strong><strong>The Commission received the documents as they became available from October 2017 onwards and provided comments either directly to the pilot authority or via the Cabinet Office.</strong></strong></p><p><strong>The Commission’s evaluation will consider if any of the pilot provisions had a disproportionate impact on particular groups in these areas.</strong></p> answering member constituency Houghton and Sunderland South answering member printed Bridget Phillipson question first answered 11/06/2018 08:50:35 answering member 4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

906297

	registered interest
	date	17/05/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the news release entitled Thousands of voters turned away from polling stations in mandatory ID trials, published by the Electoral Reform Society on 4 May 2018, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the estimate by the Electoral Reform Society that 3,981 people were turned away from polling stations across the five pilot areas; and if he will make an estimate of what that figure would be in the event that the scheme was rolled out nationally.
	tabling member constituency	St Helens North
	tabling member printed	Conor McGinn
	uin	145358
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/05/2018 answer text <p>Requiring some form of identification to vote was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities: Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking. The overwhelming majority of people cast their vote without a problem and the success of the pilots proves that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure to take, and there was no notable adverse effect on turnout.</p><p>The estimate by the political lobby group the Electoral Reform Society is exaggerated and inaccurate. Data from Returning Officers across all five participating local authorities shows that there were 340 electors asked to return to the polling station with the correct identification who did not subsequently return. This represents 0.16% of the votes cast.</p><p>This reflects that such identification was a brand new requirement, and a few electors may not have read the publicity that they were sent about the pilots.</p><p><ins class="ministerial">However, the experience of Northern Ireland, where paper ID has been required since 1985 and photo ID since 2003, illustrates that there should be no issue with voters not knowing - once the requirement has become established.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings in the summer of 2018; this will be an opportunity to review how the publicity arrangements operated and could be improved. This is one of the benefits of piloting the policy.</ins></p><p> </p><p>Requiring some form of identification to vote was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities: Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking. The overwhelming majority of people cast their vote without a problem and the success of the pilots proves that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure to take, and there was no notable adverse effect on turnout.</p><p>The estimate by the political lobby group the Electoral Reform Society is exaggerated and inaccurate. Data from Returning Officers across all five participating local authorities shows that there were 340 electors asked to return to the polling station with the correct identification who did not subsequently return. This represents 0.14% of the votes cast.</p><p>This reflects that such identification was a brand new requirement, and a few electors may not have read the publicity that they were sent about the pilots.</p><p> </p><p>However, the experience of Northern Ireland, where paper ID has been required since 1985 and photo ID since 2003, illustrates that there should be no issue with voters not knowing - once the requirement has become established.</p><p>The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings in the summer of 2018; this will be an opportunity to review how the publicity arrangements operated and could be improved. This is one of the benefits of piloting the policy.</p><p> </p><p>There was an error in the data previously presented. Whilst the individual totals of votes cast in each local authority were correct, the overall total was incorrectly summed. The previously quoted total of votes cast of 206,741 should have been 234,506. As a result, the percentage of people who did not return as a proportion of number of votes cast was overstated, incorrectly given as 0.16%. The correct figure is 0.14%. The attached table contains the correct data.</p><p> </p><p>As part of its planned evaluation, the Electoral Commission will continue to collect and analyse a wide range of data and information about the pilots, including public opinion surveys, data from polling stations, turnout and postal voting data, and polling station staff surveys. We will continue to work with the Electoral Commission and other partners to ensure that the emerging data gives an accurate picture of how ID pilots were delivered.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith previous answer version 59632 answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith 60423 answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith question first answered 25/05/2018 15:13:05 question first ministerially corrected 01/06/2018 09:26:25 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith attachment 1 file name Pre evaluation voter ID polling station data (1) (1).xlsx title Pre evaluation vote
	tabling member	4458 label Biography information for Conor McGinn

914964

	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	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of the introduction of all-postal voting in local elections.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148896
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2018 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>No assessment has been made of the use of all-postal voting since the need to provide personal identifiers was introduced in the Electoral Administration Act 2006. Unless personal identifiers are held for every elector, all-postal voting cannot be utilised.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 07/06/2018 10:04:13 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

892381

	registered interest
	date	26/04/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is the Government's policy that EU Citizens currently living in the UK will have the right to (a) stand in and (b) vote in local elections after 29 March 2019.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	138495
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2018 answer text <p>I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to the Member for Cambridge to PQ129820 on 28 March 2018.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 13/06/2018 16:34:09 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

914844

	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	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whats steps his Department took to increase voter registration prior to the 2018 local government elections.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148879
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2018 answer text <p><strong><em> </em></strong></p><p>The Electoral Commission has a responsibility for promoting public awareness of elections, including registration. Ahead of the 2018 local government elections, the Electoral Commission ran a successful campaign - Got 5? - which encouraged people to register to vote online using the Government’s Register to Vote website. In turn, the Government supported the Electoral Commission’s campaign through social media.</p><p> </p><p>Information on the use of the website in the run up to the local elections can be found here: <a href="http://gov.uk/performance/register-to-vote" target="_blank">http://gov.uk/performance/register-to-vote</a></p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 07/06/2018 11:45:49 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

914860

	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	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total cost to the public purse was of conducting the 2018 local government elections.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148889
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2018 answer text <p>The costs of local elections are not collated centrally. The funding of local elections is a matter for each local authority.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 11/06/2018 15:23:42 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

973192

	registered interest
	date	13/09/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the number of people turned away from polling booths during the Voter ID pilot at the Local Elections was in comparison to the number of people charged with voter ID fraud over the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff Central
	tabling member printed	Jo Stevens
	uin	174750
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/10/2018 answer text <p>The Government is committed to making sure that our electoral system is fit for the future. Vulnerabilities cannot be allowed to undermine the integrity of our democracy.</p><p> </p><p>The Electoral Commission collates and publishes information on allegations of electoral fraud at elections each year. Reports for 2014 - 2017 polls are available on the Electoral Commission website and a report covering polls held in 2018 will be published in due course.</p><p> </p><p>The success of the voter ID pilots proves that this is a reasonable and proportionate measure and voters were fully aware of the changes on polling day. The overwhelming majority of electors who turned up to vote did so with the right documents and had confidence in knowing how to cast their vote.</p><p> </p><p>The evaluations of the voter ID pilots which include data on the number of people turned away from polling stations can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/electoral-fraud/voter-identification-pilot-schemes" target="_blank">https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/electoral-fraud/voter-identification-pilot-schemes</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733128/Electoral_Integrity_Project_-_Local_Elections_2018_-_Evaluation.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733128/Electoral_Integrity_Project_-_Local_Elections_2018_-_Evaluation.pdf</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 09/10/2018 11:02:44 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4425 label Biography information for Jo Stevens

914853

	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	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government took to encourage people unable to vote in person to apply for a postal vote for the 2018 local government elections.
	tabling member constituency	Lancaster and Fleetwood
	tabling member printed	Cat Smith
	uin	148885
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2018 answer text <p>The Government’s Register to Vote website allows electors to request the necessary form(s) to apply to vote by post or proxy. The gov.uk website also provides forms for electors to download, complete and send to their Local Registration Office. In addition, the Electoral Commission and local authorities provide information and guidance for those electors who cannot vote in person and wish to vote by post or proxy.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 08/06/2018 14:39:30 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4436 label Biography information for Cat Smith

922119

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2018
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Local Government: Elections
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost to local authorities of advertising voter ID changes in the five local authorities which trialled those changes in the 2018 local government elections.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff Central
	tabling member printed	Jo Stevens
	uin	152204
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/06/2018 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> </p><p>Voter ID was successfully tested at the local elections on 3 May by five local authorities: Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking. Proxy voters in Peterborough were also required to show ID before they could vote. The overwhelming majority of people cast their vote without a problem.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities were responsible for the delivery of any adverts, literature or paid content relating to the pilots in their respective areas. The additional costs of the voter ID pilots have yet to be collated. Funding for the additional cost of piloting voter ID will be provided by the Cabinet Office. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings in the summer of 2018.</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 14/06/2018 10:15:31 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4425 label Biography information for Jo Stevens