Nigel Evans
Conservative, Ribble Valley
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions for electoral fraud there were in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Gerry Sutcliffe
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
Data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of people prosecuted for electoral fraud under the Representation of the People Act 1983, in England and Wales, 2001 to 2005 are shown in the following table.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for electoral fraud under the Representation of the People Act 1983 England and Wales, 2001 to 2005( 1,2) | ||||||
| Statute | Offence | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| Representation of the People Act 1983 Sec 113, 114, 115. | Bribery. Treating. Undue influence. | 7 | — | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Representation of the People Act 1983 Sec 60. | Personation. | 9 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 16 | — | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | ||||||
Does this answer the above question?
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.