Business Improvement District Ballots: Digital Voting

Lord Pitkeathley of Camden Town Excerpts

Monday 20th April 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Pitkeathley of Camden Town]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential for piloting digital voting in Business Improvement District ballots in order to improve participation and test secure digital voting systems.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government recognise the very important role that BIDs can play in regenerating their local areas and I thank my noble friend for his work across BIDs in London. In the Pride in Place Strategy published on 25 September, we committed to strengthening the BID model by expanding property owner BIDs, raising standards and consulting on improvements to voting procedures in BID ballots, which will include introducing an option for digital voting. Further details will be published in due course.

[Lord Pitkeathley of Camden Town (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that Answer, which leads to my further question. Business improvement district ballots involve a clearly defined electorate of registered voters. They are overseen by local authority returning officers, and they determine real financial commitments through the bid levy. Yet participation is constrained by the continued reliance on postal-only voting, which can be administratively cumbersome for businesses and local authorities. If the Government recognise that potential, will they now move beyond assessment and commit to enabling a small number of pilot schemes for secure digital voting in BID ballots and bring forward the necessary legislative power to do so, subject to appropriate safeguards?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We have heard that the postal voting system does not always work as effectively as it should for BID ballots and we want to make sure that BID ballots are as efficient and as accessible as possible, which is why we have committed to consulting on those improvements to BID voting procedures. We will consult on the introduction of digital voting for BID ballots as part of this, including how it will work in practical terms. Of course, we need to make absolutely sure that it can be done safely as well. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, we will then decide how the proposal should be implemented.