§ Sir Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultation took place with the representatives of political parties and English electoral registration officers over the design and wording of the new forms 7, 7B and 9; and how this differed from consultation on previous occasions when the design and wording for the electoral registration forms was revised.
§ Mr. HurdThere was full consultation with the political parties, local authority associations and bodies representing electoral registration officers in England and Wales on the content of the Representation of the People Regulations 1986, which largely govern the wording of these forms. The need to have the forms available by 1 January this year did not allow time for consultation on the design, although there was some informal consultation on the size of the forms. If my hon. Friend has any suggestion to make about the forms, we would be glad to consider it.
There was extensive consultation when the electoral registration form A was changed, but on that occasion there had been no previous discussions on regulations prescribing the content of the form.