§ Margaret MoranTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to include e-participation in future e-voting pilots. [119614]
§ Phil HopeWorking with the Electoral Commission, the Office of the e-Envoy and local authorities, our aim is to develop a wide range of e-democracy initiatives, both e-voting and e-participation. We are seeking how best at local level differing initiatives may be integrated both to engage and to better inform voters while maintaining the integrity and security of the ballot.
For e-participation we are providing £2 million of pump-priming funding as part of our e-democracy national project, inviting bids from local authorities, and we will be pursuing e-voting in the light of the Electoral Commission's evaluation of the May 2003 pilots.