What percentage of the electorate in (a) Greater London, (b) England and (c) Wales are registered to vote.

The total number that could be eligible to vote is not known with accuracy, and I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman's question in the form in which he put it. As of 21 December 2007, about 5.5 million people were registered to vote in local government elections in Greater London, and the other figures were 38.5 million in England and about 2.25 million in Wales. Past research by the commission suggests that the level of non-registration—for technical reasons, I must give the non-registration figure, rather than that for registration—in England and Wales was between 8 and 9 per cent., and in London it could be between 10 and 20 per cent., depending on the area.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that helpful answer, confirming what many of us know and fear—the high level of non-registration, particularly in London, but also elsewhere. Given that it is only a few weeks before the latest date for getting on the electoral roll for the coming May elections in England and Wales, will he talk to his colleagues on the committee and in the Electoral Commission about the much-promised campaign to get people to vote, which was meant to happen each spring? Even if it has not happened this year, will he talk to his colleagues to provide some momentum in the remaining available days? People need to be encouraged to vote.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. The last date to register is 16 April. He is right to ask about the commission's campaign to encourage registration. A significant advertising campaign will be launched after Easter on television and radio, in the outdoor press and online, supported by coverage in the local media. It would help to have a larger number registered, and the Electoral Commission believes that individual registration would encourage that.

Peter Viggers anticipated my point; I was going to ask whether the committee had considered the implications of the Slough judgment, which called for individual voter registration. The present system does not work and is open to fraud.

Since 2003, the Electoral Commission has been urging individual registration. When giving evidence to the Select Committee on Justice earlier this week, its chairman said:

"If it's a matter of where I'd put the priority in terms of urgency...I would choose individual registration first and consolidation of electoral law afterwards."

The Slough judgment significantly highlighted the defects in the registration system, and the Electoral Commission has made strong representations to Government about that.

Further to the point made by Mr. Prentice, is the problem not the non-registration of people who can vote but the registration of people who cannot vote? Have the Government given my hon. Friend Mr. Viggers any indication that following the Slough judgment they are prepared to revisit the issue of individual registration?

The commission's view is that the registration system in Great Britain does not provide adequate safeguards against fraudulent registration and thus against fraudulent voting. Names can be added to the register by others, and not enough information is collected about those on the register to establish whether they really exist and are really resident at the address in question. Fraudsters can undermine the electoral process by obtaining and casting postal votes using falsely registered names. As its chairman's evidence to the Justice Committee this week indicated, the Electoral Commission is making strong representations to Government. I have not yet heard their response.