Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the electoral register is as complete as possible by the end of March 2016.

We are working with Local Authorities, the Electoral Commission and Civil Society groups to find better ways of reaching and encouraging under registered groups to register, as the Minister for Constitutional Reform set out in his recent speech on voter engagement. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/vision-for-electoral-registration-speech-by-john-penrose.

Online registration is making the process notably quicker, easier and more convenient for everybody, but particularly for under-registered groups like young people; 2.9 million 16-24 year olds have applied since June 2014. Completing the implementation of Individual Electoral Registration will also help, by giving an accurate picture of registration levels that isn’t artificially inflated or flattered by people who have either died or moved away.