Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Harper and Lord Walney

Tuesday 20th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What assessment he has made of the likely effect of bringing forward the annual canvass on levels of electoral fraud.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr Mark Harper)]

The Government take combating electoral fraud very seriously. Following a recommendation from the Electoral Commission, I directed that this year’s annual canvass should be started and completed earlier so that the register to be used for police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales outside London is the most accurate and up-to-date register possible.

[John Woodcock]

I thank the Minister for that answer, but does he believe it right that the nominations for police and crime commissioners and their subsequent elections should take place using different electoral registers?

[Mr Harper]

I think, in this particular case, that is perfectly fine. It does not deal with the hon. Gentleman’s question, however, which was about electoral fraud. The reason for bringing forward the canvass was to ensure that we were not using a register that was right at the end of its useful life, with significant numbers of people not being at the addresses on the register. That would have provided an opportunity for fraud, and we wanted to reduce that to the minimum.