To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what research the Government have conducted on remote electronic voting.

The research into remote electronic voting is primarily conducted through pilots under S.10 of the Representation of the People Act 2000. There have been 27 e-voting pilots in 2002 and 2003 and these were all evaluated by The Electoral Commission which reported on each of the pilots and also published a strategic evaluation.

In addition to piloting, research has been jointly commissioned by the Government and key stakeholders investigating the issues surrounding the implementation of electronic voting in the UK. This research was published in May 2002.

As part of the work being done on electoral modernisation there is on-going consideration of e-voting technologies used worldwide and their performance in pilots and elections.