To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what number and proportion of (a) allegations of postal ballot fraud and (b) successful prosecutions for postal ballot fraud were for (i) distributing and collecting postal ballot application forms and (ii) collecting postal ballot forms for the purpose of voting in the latest period for which figures are available.

The Electoral Commission has been working with the UK's Associations of Chief Police Officers since 2007 to collect and publish data on cases of alleged electoral fraud under the Representation of the People Act 1983. These data are available on the Commission's website at:

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/find-information-by-subject/electoral-fraud/electoral-fraud-responsibilities

The data does not show the proportion of cases of alleged electoral fraud which relate to distributing or collecting completed postal vote application forms or collecting completed postal ballot packs. It is not currently an offence for anyone to distribute or collect postal vote application forms or to collect postal ballot packs from electors; therefore no prosecutions have been recorded.