Written question asked by Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 20 October 2016, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 November 2016. It was answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Conservative) on Monday, 31 October 2016 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Electoral Register: Finance

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the independent report commissioned by the Electoral Commission, Evaluation of Electoral Administration at the EU Referendum, published in August, which showed that almost half of Counting Officers responsible for the referendum considered that their teams had insufficient funds available to support the work required to compile the electoral register, whether they plan to review the electoral registration funding process.

Answer: It is the responsibility of Local Authorities, under the Representation of the People Act 1983, to appoint an Electoral Registration Officer who has a statutory duty to maintain registers of UK Parliamentary and local government electors for their area. To support Local Authorities with this process, and fund the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, the Cabinet Office has provided over £25 million of funding in 2014/2015 and over £15 million in 2015/2016. In addition, the Government has committed to cover the additional costs associated with the modernisation of electoral registration for at least the rest of this parliament.

Secondary information