Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Main Page: Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Non-affiliated - Life peer)Electoral Registration Pilot Scheme (England) Order 2016
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen Excerpts
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
That the Grand Committee do consider the Electoral Registration Pilot Scheme (England) Order 2016.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Con)
My Lords, the instrument before the Committee establishes a pilot scheme under Sections 7 and 9 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013. New Section 9D(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, inserted by the 2013 Act, requires the annual canvass to be conducted in the manner set out in the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001. However, this draft order disapplies that requirement for electoral registration officers—EROs—in Birmingham, Ryedale and South Lakeland; instead it requires EROs in the specified areas to attempt to make contact with a person at each residential address in the area for which they act at least once between the date when the order comes into force and 2 February 2017. The manner in which they do so, however, and whether they take further steps where no information is received in respect of a particular address, will be at the ERO’s discretion. This will enable EROs to test new and innovative approaches to canvassing. The Electoral Commission will report on the pilot scheme and provide a copy of its evaluation to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the EROs by 30 June 2017. The order ceases to have effect on 7 July 2017.
As some of those in the Room may already be aware, the process for the household canvass is prescribed in the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 and requires electoral registration officers to send an annual canvass form—that is, a household enquiry form, or HEF—to every property in their area. The HEF asks residents to set out whether there have been any changes in the composition of the household since the previous year’s canvass and enables electoral registration officers to identify whether any residents should be added or removed from the register. Where no response is received, as is more often than not the case, EROs are required to issue up to two further forms and to carry out at least one visit.
While the fundamental objective of the annual canvass—namely, the maintenance of a complete and accurate register through regular data collection—is and will continue to be a government priority, informal consultation with EROs over an extended period has indicated that the annual canvass in its current form is not a sustainable way to achieve that aim.
Many EROs, who are on the front line of canvass activity, have told the Cabinet Office that electors find the canvass procedure frustrating and confusing. When electors might know themselves to be registered, perhaps from having recently participated in an election, they do not understand why they have none the less received three letters and a visit from their local ERO.
This year, for example, many citizens will have voted in the local, devolved or police and crime commissioner elections in May, the EU referendum in June and perhaps even a by-election, yet, when the annual canvass takes place between July and December this year, they will receive fresh inquiries about their registration status. The reality is that household churn is only around 20% per annum, thus the majority of canvass activity is redundant. Some 80% of households will be a “no change” on the electoral register.
This tremendously bureaucratic process is no less frustrating for administrators. Having to follow steps prescribed in statute stifles their capacity to innovate and adopt new and more digital approaches to canvassing. From knowing their local area, or from having access to other local council data, EROs may well be aware of the registration status of households in their area. However, the system currently in place does not allow them to draw on their own expertise or on other information held by the local authority. This is not an example of smart working.
Lord Beecham (Lab)
My Lords, I am in awe of my noble friend’s expertise and knowledge on the whole issue of electoral registration. If the noble Baroness is not already in the same position, I think that she will be after my noble friend has spoken to the order.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
My Lords, that was certainly an interesting debate. Indeed I feel I am in the presence of great experts, with the noble Lords, Lord Kennedy and Lord Tyler, so I start from a position of great humility. However, I certainly intend to answer most of their questions.
The noble Lords, Lord Beecham, Lord Tyler and Lord Kennedy of Southwark, all mentioned the boundary reviews and the change in the register following the take-up during the referendum. I covered this pretty well last Thursday, but unless we have a defined date and a set of registers to assess, it is impossible to run a review. The registers used for a boundary review are necessarily a snapshot, and registers always continue to change while a review is taking place. As all noble Lords know, without the implementation of the boundary reviews, MPs will continue to represent constituencies drawn up on the basis of data that will be over 20 years old at the next election. That would be to disregard significant changes in the population in relation to the principle of equal-sized constituencies, which were endorsed by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The reforms have already been delayed once, and it is vital that we do not delay them any further so that the 2020 general election is not fought on boundaries that will by then be nearly—
Lord Tyler
I am grateful to the noble Baroness, but I have not yet heard any explanation—I fear none is coming—of why we should not use the absolutely solid evidence of the electoral register that was, as it were, tested to destruction on 23 June 2016. What is the objection to using that register for the basis of this discussion? I cannot understand that.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
May I, too, come back to that point, rather than interrupt again later? I agree entirely with the Minister’s point about the need to have a defined date. It is absolutely right that we have to fix the date—I have no problem about that—and draw the boundaries on the basis of the figures at that date. It is absolutely spot on to say that we cannot move the date around. The problem the Government have to contend with is that we had a fixed, defined date, which was 1 December 2016, but they chose to scrap it and bring it forward by a year. The problem is that that was going to be the date, so all these people would have been on the register and would have been counted. I do not think the Minister was involved, but somebody in government sat around the table and decided to bring this forward by a year. We have never had an explanation of that. We have talked about ghost voters and other problems and this and that, but it was the Government’s decision. The December 2016 date clearly guaranteed the commission plenty of time over the next couple of years to have a review. The review would have come to both Houses some time in 2018, been approved by both Houses and been in place for the election in 2020. However, somebody in government took a decision to bring it forward by a year, and I suspect that decision was made purely for party political advantage. If that is the case, it is absolutely disgraceful.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Obviously, that was before my time. The reason why the date cannot be changed now is that doing so would involve primary legislation. If such legislation was brought in to change the whole system, it would mean that we would definitely not get the boundaries reviews done in time for 2018.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
I do not know whether that would have to be done through primary legislation, but I guarantee the Minister—I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, would do so as well—that the Government would get the full co-operation of both opposition parties and would get it through in a day or two. That would be absolutely no problem whatever. They could get it through next week if they needed to do so. I would provide complete co-operation on that, so there would be no problem about delaying things.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
The problem is that the boundary review has already commenced and the Boundary Commission is expected to report later this year, so that would all go down the drain. There would definitely have to be primary legislation, and there is quite a lot going on at the moment, so would there be time for it? We would need to get it through so that we could do the boundary reviews by 2018, ready for the general election in 2020, so there really is not the time. The review has already started—I ought to move on, otherwise we will move round and round in circles—but that is the reason.
The noble Lord, Lord Tyler, wanted to know how the pilots were chosen. They have been chosen through the EROs, who came forward with ideas and proposals and expressed the wish to participate. He also talked about the Law Commission. The Government are currently considering the commission’s recent interim report on electoral law. This comprehensive and wide-ranging report makes a number of recommendations, including in relation to electoral registration, and it is important that the Government give the report due consideration before making a formal response. I hope he will understand that I cannot pre-empt the Government’s response at this stage. I look forward to continuing the work to improve electoral registration.
The noble Lord asked why the Government do not change the registration on which the boundary review is concluded. I think I have already covered that. As I said, it would need primary legislation, which is not possible at this time. The noble Lord also mentioned the extent of application. I think he was talking about England, Wales and Scotland, and how that worked. The legal jurisdiction is England and Wales, and that is its extent. The order applies only to England because the authorities concerned are all in England.
The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, talked about looking at postal databases to boost registration levels. The use of data to improve electoral registration is an important tool, and indeed Birmingham and South Lakeland will look to harness the information from multiple local data sources to help target their activity at households. As the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, mentioned, there is indeed a terrible problem with take-up from certain representations in the country, particularly BMEs. We are looking at that, and it really has to be sorted out. It is a problem that seems to keep going on and on. The Cabinet Office is putting this at the top of its list.
Students are a difficult problem as they tend to move house every year. Part of the problem is that the actual academic year starts in September and October but the registration is done in the December the year before. Again, that is being looked into. We are hoping that civil organisations such as Bite The Ballot are having some impact in getting students to register. It was interesting that it seems that a lot of students registered to vote in the EU referendum but did not actually vote when the day came. We are looking into why that was the case. It cannot be that they all slept in from 7 am until 10 pm.
Lord Tyler
I think the answer is that not all of them were given the opportunity, or saw that there was an opportunity, to register for a postal vote. When the period for registration was extended—when, as the Minister will recall, the system collapsed—we did not extend the deadline for postal votes. There was a whole 24 or 36 hours when they could register but could not then get a postal vote. Obviously, many of them would have found that they would not be in the place where they had anticipated registering because it was the end of the academic year.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
I take the noble Lord’s point. Interestingly, all chancellors at universities were written to at the start of the referendum to say, “Please encourage students to register”. At that time the students would have been able to get a postal vote, but I certainly take the noble Lord’s point. I have probably covered all the questions. Is there anything I have left out?
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
The Minister has covered the points and we are very grateful for that. However, I think generally that the Government have to do more in this area. I am sure that they wrote letters to the vice-chancellors, which is great, but this should be included as part of the normal work of the university; they should have to get people to register to vote. With all the thousands of young people turning up at universities every year, part of their induction should be getting them to register to vote. Registration is often seen as going on in the corner over there with the door shut, and few other people get involved. It must be much more of a responsibility when public servants in a variety of roles meet members of the public. That is what we need to do to make it work.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
I agree with the noble Lord. Of course students can register at home as well. However, we are very fortunate today to have a Minister for higher education here, so I am sure she is taking note of everything that everyone has said and will go back and make sure that we concentrate on this one. It is a very important point and the Cabinet Office is well aware of it. We need to make sure that we do more.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
Also, I thank the Minister for saying that she was in awe of all the experts sitting around the Room. I hope that one day we might be listened to.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
I always listen to the noble Lord. I thank everyone who has taken part and I commend the regulations to the Committee.