Electoral Registers (Hansard, 21 July 1987)

§ Mr. Tony Banks
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assistance has been given by his Department in the past five years to local authorities in campaigns to increase the numbers of electors on registers.
121W

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allan) on 20 July.

Mr. Tony
Banks asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any studies are being undertaken by his Department on the impact on electoral registration of the possible introduction of the poll tax.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
No.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what efforts are made by his Department to monitor or assess the accuracy of electoral registers.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
In 1981 the Home Office and the Scottish Home and Health Department commissioned a detailed study of electoral registration in Great Britain by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. This was published in December 1982. The Home Office subsequently commissioned a survey by the OPCS of electoral registration in a selection of inner city areas where the problems are known to be greater. This will be published shortly. More recently we commissioned a survey into the effectiveness of electoral registration procedures, the report of which was published on 2 April. This produced practical proposals for improvements which we are looking at very carefully. As a first step we have asked OPCS to conduct an annual exercise to gather systematic information from all electoral registration officers in England and Wales about current methods and their effectiveness. This will provide a further basis for initiatives in this area.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department has made any assessment of the number of votes lost in the most recent general election because of (a) wrongful inclusion in or (b) omission from electoral registers.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike) on 10 July, at columns 304–5.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representation he has received from electoral registration officers concerning the accuracy of registers used in the most recent general election.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
None.