HC Deb 29 February 2000 vol 345 cc257-8W
Miss Widdecombe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when(a) local authorities, (b) the Local Government Association and (c) the press were informed of his decision to approve pilot projects of alternative voting procedures under the provisions of the Representation of the People Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matters raised by the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) on 17 February 2000, Official Report, column 1118; [112029]

(2) what pilot projects of alternative voting procedures he has approved under the provisions of the Representation of the People Bill; what alternative procedures he has approved in each case; and when each local authority was informed that its pilot project had been approved. [112030]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

Following a discussion I had with the hon. Members for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) and for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes), provisional approval has been given to the following schemes. A final decision will be taken on each scheme once the Representation of the People Bill has received Royal Assent.

Early Voting

  • Blackburn
  • Blackpool
  • Chester
  • Coventry
  • Kingston upon Hull
  • Knowsley (3 wards)
  • Manchester
  • Norwich1
  • Pendle
  • Plymouth
    • 258W
  • Redditch
  • St. Helens (6 wards)
  • Stoke on Trent
  • Sunderland1
  • Telford and the Wrekin (2 wards)
  • Watford1

Electronic Voting/Counting

  • Broxbourne
  • Bury (1 ward)
  • Salford (2 wards)1
  • Stratford on Avon
  • Three Rivers
  • Warrington

Extension of Hours of Poll

  • Leeds
  • Mole Valley

Weekend Voting Watford1

All Postal Ballots

  • Bolton (3 wards)
  • Doncaster (1 ward)
  • Gateshead (2 wards)
  • Norwich (2 wards)1
  • Salford (1 ward)1
  • Stevenage (2 wards)
  • Swindon (4 wards)
  • Wigan (3 wards)

Extension of Postal Vote Entitlement

  • Amber Valley (2 wards)
  • Eastleigh
  • Gloucester (3 wards)
  • Milton Keynes

Mobile Polling Facility

  • Norwich1
  • Sunderland (8 wards)1
  • Watford1
  • Windsor and Maidenhead (2 wards)

Freepost

  • Watford1
  • 1 Councils running more than one scheme.

Most of the local authorities concerned were informed of my provisional decision on 14 February. In a number of cases where I was not yet in a position to reach a provisional decision, the information was communicated to the local authority later in that week.

On 15 February, the Local Government Association were given details of the provisional decisions that had, by that point, been taken, as were a number of journalists. No Home Office press notice has been issued since final decisions have yet to be made.

The hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) was not correct to say that newspapers, the Press Association and other bodies were told before Parliament about which pilot schemes will take place in May, as the final decisions have yet to be made.