Catherine McKinnell
Main Page: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)Department Debates - View all Catherine McKinnell's debates with the Cabinet Office
(7 years, 9 months ago)
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Ben Gummer
It sounds entirely transparent to me. The Secretary of State is on the Bench. He has heard the question and no doubt he will want to be caught afterwards to discuss it further. I know that he has almost daily discussions with the Chancellor about the interests of Scotland, which is why he was able to secure an additional £350 million for Scotland in the Budget. That shows the advantages of being in this Union of the United Kingdom.
Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chris Skidmore)
The Cabinet Office committed to the funding of additional costs of individual electoral registration for the remainder of the Parliament. Local authorities maintain their previous statutory responsibilities to maximise the completeness of the registers and are responsible for the funding of the costs of the household canvas.
Catherine McKinnell
Research carried out after the EU referendum by Newcastle University’s Dr Alistair Clark on behalf of the Electoral Commission said:
“Alarmingly, concerns about levels of funding were raised with nearly half of local authorities claiming that they have insufficient funds to maintain the electoral register.”
Does the Minister not find that statement deeply worrying for our democracy, and, if so, what are the Government doing about it?
Chris Skidmore
The Government have committed to fund local authorities to cover the additional costs of IER. In 2016-17, those costs came to £21 million, and a further £49.5 million is committed to the end of this Parliament. In particular, Newcastle City Council received £145,000 for 2016-17 to fund its delivery of IER and the register.