HC Deb 07 July 1997 vol 297 cc365-7W
Mr. Barnes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the costs of(a) compiling, (b) maintaining, (c) issuing and (d) using the electoral registers employed at the last general election. [6019]

Mr. George Howarth

[holding answer 1 July 1997]: Figures on local authority spending on electoral registration are not held centrally, but the total cost of registration is generally estimated at about £40 million per annum.

Mr. Barnes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of people who were registered in more than one polling district area at the last general election; and if he will make a statement. [6021]

Mr. Howarth

[holding answer 1 July 1997]: None. The information needed for such an estimate to be made is not available.

Mr. Barnes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the numbers of people whose names appear on current electoral registers who had died before the date of the last general election; and if he will make a statement. [6016]

Mr. Howarth

[holding answer 1 July 1997]: None. Any figures for the total number of the deaths of all adults aged 17 and over in a given period would include a number whose names did not, for one reason or another, appear in the published electoral register.

Mr. Barnes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the extent of electoral registration at the last general election relative to each general election since 1979. [6017]

Mr. Howarth

[holding answer 1 July 1997]: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) on 12 June, Official Report, column 511.