Written question asked by Chris Ruane (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 November 2005. It was answered by Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour) on Monday, 28 November 2005 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Electoral Fraud

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the impact of the arrangements in Northern Ireland which allow electoral registration officers to consult Department for Work and Pensions databases as part of measures to tackle electoral fraud.

Answer: The Chief Electoral Officer has written to the hon. Member. The text of the letter is as follows:"““The process is one in which an extract of the registration information held in respect of every elector in Northern Ireland is compared against the DWP National Insurance Number (NINO) database using the NINO, date of birth and name provided on each individual registration form. There has been a full match in 94.6 per cent. of cases and the Electoral office is currently pursuing the reason for mismatches with the remaining 5.4 per cent. In many instances the mismatches have turned out to be simple transpositions on the part of electors, for example AB123465D being recorded at AB123456D.""The Electoral office is of the view that the use of the NINO and subsequent checking against the DWP database has led to an extremely accurate Register in Northern Ireland with few if any illegal duplications or phantom entries””"

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 440 c223W;440 c223W; 27580
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Databases Crime prevention Department for Work and Pensions Fraud Electoral register Northern Ireland
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk