§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide details of (a) the number of offences reported and (b) the number of prosecutions for voting more than once in the general elections of 1983, 1979 and 1974 in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) Great Britain.
§ Mr. Mellor[pursuant to his reply, 26 November 1984, c. 349]: In England and Wales the information collected centrally on notifiable offences recorded to the police does not separately distinguish offences against the Representation of the People Act 1949 or 1983. The available information on court proceedings is given below and does not separately distinguish offences of personation from other voting offences or between offences committed at general elections from those at by-election or local elections; information for 1974 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Persons proceeded against for offences under sections 47 and 48 of the Representation of the People Act 1949 under sections 60 and 61 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 England and Wales Number of persons Year Persons proceeded against 1979 4 1983 14