Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his consultation on proposals for the reform of the annual canvass, what steps he is taking to put in place (a) an effective year-round registration process and (b) longer-term plans for electoral registration reform.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone who is eligible to vote is able to do so.

Online registration, introduced in 2014, has already transformed the way many people register to vote by making it easier, simpler and faster. This can be done online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote in as little as 5 minutes. Three quarters (75.2%) of the over 36 million applications to register to vote since June 2014 were made online and the user satisfaction rate with the website is consistently more than 90%

We keep the registration system under review at all times, especially with a view to its modernising. In doing so, we work closely with a wide range of partners such as the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, the Scottish Assessors Association and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives).