To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what additional central Government funding was made available to electoral registration officers for electoral registration in each of the last five years; and which local authorities were successful in bidding for that funding.

Since 2015, Cabinet Office has provided five years of annual grant funding to Electoral Registration Officers in England, Scotland and Wales to cover the additional cost that Individual Electoral Registration (IER) introduced to the registration system.

Initial in-year allocations are paid to all local authorities in England and Wales, and valuation joint boards in Scotland as early in the financial year as possible. If local authorities/valuation joint boards require further additional funding, they are required to submit a justification led bid (JLB) towards the end of the financial year.

Since 2015, the Cabinet Office has provided £96M to cover these additional costs

● 15/16, £27M

● 16/17, £21M

● 17/18, £18M

● 18/19, £16M

● 19/20, £14M (initial allocations announced and payments being processed – does not include JLB funding.)

Since 2015/16, 50% of the Local Authorities and Valuation Joint Boards have received additional JLB funding on top of the initial allocation in at least one of the years of funding.

It is anticipated that plans to reform the annual canvass of electors will significantly reduce the overall cost of electoral registration and place electoral registration services on a more sustainable footing.