Electoral Registration

House of Lords written question – answered at on 3 September 2012.

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Photo of Lord Wills Lord Wills Labour

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in making projections about levels of registration under the system of individual electoral registration proposed in the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill, what assumptions they have made about the level of local authority spending on electoral registration in (1) 2012, (2) 2013, (3) 2014, and (4) 2015. [HL2040]

Photo of Lord Wills Lord Wills Labour

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on levels of electoral registration if local authorities do not spend the funds allocated to them for electoral registration to that end in (1) 2012, (2) 2013, (3) 2014, and (4) 2015. [HL2041]

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Photo of Lord Newby Lord Newby Lords Spokesperson (HM Treasury) (Whip), Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)

Funding to meet the cost of the transition to IER was allocated in the 2010 comprehensive spending review with £108 million allocated over the spending review period. The Government are committed to funding the full cost of the transition to IER, over and above the current cost of electoral registration. Local authorities will continue to fund electoral registration from their formula grant and the Government will ensure that there is sufficient funding for transition by making specific payments under Section 31 of the Local Government Act. This funding will be supplied for specific transition activities (such as digital changes, training and transitional canvass arrangements) through upfront or retrospective grants, depending on which activity is being funded. The Government propose that these funds will also be supplied to local authorities on the basis of local needs in terms of population turnover or other factors.

Local authorities are under a statutory duty (Section 54 of the Representation of the People Act 1983) to pay an electoral registration officer’s expenses properly incurred in the performance of their functions. Electoral registration officers will be under specific legal obligations to carry out responsibilities agreed by Parliament during the transition. Those who fail to do so will be in breach of their duties, which (in the absence of reasonable cause) is an offence under Section 63 of the 1983 Act. Local authorities presently allocate funding from their area-based grant for registration activities to comply with their present statutory duties and we expect that they will continue to do so.

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