§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans the Department has to encourage the electorate to participate in European Elections. [133347]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Government introduced the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill on 17 September. This will permit innovative voting systems to be piloted in selected regions at next year's European Parliamentary elections building on the experience gained from the piloting of innovative systems at local election level. This is designed to adapt to the needs of today's changing lifestyles and the work and family commitments which people have.
In addition, the Electoral Commission has a statutory responsibility to promote public awareness of current electoral systems, including the European Parliamentary elections. It recently conducted research on people's attitude to the European Parliamentary elections and the findings will inform their campaign to encourage greater participation by the electorate al next year's elections. A copy of that research 'Public opinion and the 2004 elections' is available on the Electoral Commission's website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk. The Institute for Citizenship is also running a 'Get the Vote Out 2004!' campaign (with support from the Electoral Commission) to raise awareness and encourage participation. The Government fully supports these initiatives.