HC Deb 19 October 1995 vol 264 cc331-2W
Mr. Rooker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new initiatives his Department undertook to improve electoral registration for the recent annual registration process. [37083]

Mr. Kirkhope

We continue to give general guidance to electoral registration officers and to advise them on best practice based on annual research which we commission. We also run an annual publicity campaign to coincide

Notifiable offences recorded in the metropolitan police district by borough district Metropolitan Police District—12 months to June 1995
Number of offences
Barking Burnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich
Total 13,930 24,147 17,510 24,421 26,619 34,937 32,900 27,029 20,966 40,942
Violence against the person 508 707 704 1,177 1,145 1,209 2,101 1,287 1,181 2,316
Sexual offences 250 159 133 204 179 161 251 204 136 481
Robbery 226 485 198 1,863 264 1,305 817 825 466 987
Burglary going equipped 3,316 5,463 4,628 4,903 5,691 6,152 7,086 5,163 5,069 10,081
Theft and handling stolen goods 6,217 11,117 7,513 9,975 12,465 19,349 14,300 11,861 9,080 17,098
Fraud and forgery 431 911 508 1,076 836 1,088 1,353 1,072 780 1,423
Criminal damage 2,876 5,170 3,713 5,025 5,841 5,443 6,731 6,400 4,135 8,161
Other 106 135 113 198 198 230 261 217 119 395
Theft of vehicle 1,177 1,070 1,157 950 1,314 1,262 1,408 1,365 1,140 1,883
Theft from vehicle 1,919 3,562 2,560 3,168 4,446 5,452 4,613 3,437 3,111 5,460
Burglary in a dwelling 1,864 3,468 2,694 3,327 3,541 3,350 4,847 3,401 3,061 7,055
Burglary in another building 1,443 1,981 1,921 1,554 2,111 2,751 2,192 1,735 1,988 2,965
Hackney Hammersmith Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston
Total 28,213 13,085 22,609 13,019 16,276 21,972 23,332 27,835 25,831 16,527
Violence against the person 1,355 671 1,225 513 393 1,019 1,290 1,727 840 697
Sexual offences 197 73 166 80 233 123 256 208 114 97
Robbery 2,031 519 1,299 231 113 165 292 1,309 1,076 173
Burglary going equipped 7,743 2,049 4,768 2,648 3,461 4,760 4,734 5,517 4,433 3,949
Theft and handling stolen goods 11,300 6,732 10,068 5,805 8,305 9,555 10,215 13,090 15,284 7,736
Fraud and forgery 1,026 396 818 524 604 587 1,279 861 897 547
Criminal damage 4,259 2,502 4,098 3,148 3,096 5,676 4,998 4,843 2,974 3,134
Other 302 143 167 70 71 87 268 280 213 194
Theft of vehicle 1,422 739 1,424 417 1,681 998 745 1,211 872 318
Theft from vehicle 3,721 2,650 2,679 2,042 2,155 4,068 2,977 4,527 3,279 2,110
Burglary in a dwelling 5,322 1,404 3,417 1,760 1,667 2,720 2,827 3,036 3,560 2,441
Burglary in another building 2,368 624 1,333 873 1,785 2,029 1,876 2,163 832 1,491

with the canvass. This year, a new television advertisement with associated posters was commissioned and produced at a cost of £800,000.

Mr. Rooker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward changes to election law to allow challenges to be made to the use of a vote by a person who is falsely registered. [37076]

Mr. Kirkhope

We are examining ways in which the possible risk of fraudulent electoral registration might be reduced and hope to reach conclusions soon.