Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that homeless people are (a) registered to vote and (b) participate in elections; and what assessment he has made of the effect on registration levels of the requirement for electors without a fixed address to print a local connection form to register to vote.

As part of my “Every Voice Matters” tour, I visited every nation and region of the United Kingdom to hear about the barriers that prevent some groups – including homeless people – from participating in the democratic system. For example, when I went to Cambridge, I met with homelessness organisations and their clients to hear how the electoral registration system could better respond to their needs. We will continue to work with homelessness charities, such as Shelter and Crisis, to overcome these barriers and help those with no fixed address to register to vote. These organisations and others already work to make sure that the paperwork required to register without a fixed address can be readily accessed.