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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) for making it clear that she will withdraw the new clause. I feel that it revisits clause 2, which deals with the annual canvass; in essence, mailing households every year would amount to the same thing. The new clause would commit the CEO to undertaking an annual mailing to every household in Northern Ireland. Although that would not be an annual canvass of every individual, it would still amount to an annual canvass, by post, of every household. Earlier, the Committee agreed that there was no need to conduct an annual canvass, in part because of the cost implications. The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland has estimated that it would cost some £300,000 to issue forms to all the households in Northern Ireland. That would cover the cost of the initial posting—which by itself would cost £171,000 a year—the reminder posting that is, sadly, always necessary in such cases, and the freepost envelopes that would also have to be provided. There would be no real benefit for electoral officers. Later clauses provide that electoral officers will be able to examine a range of other ways to keep the register up to date. For example, they will be able to refer to the utility companies and other sources, and clause 4 also allows them to look at any method of keeping the register up to date.