Electoral fraud is unacceptable on any level. There are already measures in place designed to enhance the security of postal voting.<\/p>
In response to (the then) Sir Eric 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>
The Government will look for opportunities to introduce measures that will restrict the handling of postal votes by people who may seek to abuse or subvert them. We will also look to introduce controls on the return of postal votes via polling stations, which has been a cause for concern in past elections.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4451", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Foster"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Torbay"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kevin Foster"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-16T14:08:12.433Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "53"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Absent Voting: Fraud"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to tackle postal vote fraud.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3939", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Percy"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Brigg and Goole"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andrew Percy"} ], "uin" : "275735"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1138089", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1138089/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Under section 113 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) 1983 it is an offence for a person to give money or a gift to any other person in order to induce them to vote or to refrain from voting at an election. There is a similar offence at section 114 of the RPA 1983 in relation to the treating of voters.<\/p>
Furthermore, the Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) replaced an old and outmoded mix of common and statutory law and was designed to provide the courts, prosecutors and investigators the tools they needed to tackle bribery in the UK and overseas in the 21st century. The Act reflects the UK's continued commitment to combat bribery and provides a modern, comprehensive scheme of bribery offences.<\/p>
If anyone has evidence of abuse of the electoral system, this should be reported to the Returning Officer or the Police who have powers to investigate.<\/p>
We will continue to keep electoral law under review to ensure the electoral system is safe and secure.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4451", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Foster"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Torbay"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Kevin Foster"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-16T14:08:27.537Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "53"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Elections: Corruption"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to tackle bribery during elections.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3939", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Percy"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Brigg and Goole"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andrew Percy"} ], "uin" : "275736"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1138141", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1138141/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
I am accountable to Parliament for the National Cyber Security Strategy and the accompanying investment programme. I am also the lead Minister for the cyber resilience of the government sector.<\/p>
The Government Chief Security Officer (GCSO) leads the Government Security Function, which seeks to build the capacity and capabilities of security professionals across UK government departments, covering physical, human and information security.<\/p>
The GCSO is also Director General of the Government Security Group within the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for the oversight, coordination and delivery of protective security capabilities within all central government departments, their agencies and arms-length bodies.<\/p>
The responsibility for security, including risk management and policy implementation, sits with the Accounting Officer and the executive board of each department.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/15", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir David Lidington"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Aylesbury"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr David Lidington"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-15T12:46:22.347Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "53"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Cybersecurity: Departmental Coordination"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister or official is responsible for ensuring cross-governmental compliance with the Minimum Cyber Security Standard.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4673", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jo Platt"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Leigh"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Jo Platt"} ], "uin" : "275829"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }