Electoral Administration Bill

Yes, it is just like with builders, is it not? There is an issue there, of course, but it is important to recognise what this is. The noble Lord is absolutely right about IT schemes, whether in the public or private sector—80 per cent of private sector schemes fail, usually because the specifications are wrong, or for lots of other problems. So I accept the point that getting IT right is an issue that every organisation, public or private, must face. But this particular scheme, because of the way in which the work has been done in advance, and the fact that it is bringing together other sets of information, is at one level quite simple. It is not about trying to create a brand new database that you put everything on; it is about how you collect information appropriately and how the software works in a way that might enable us to use the scheme appropriately in the ways that we have indicated. So it is not actually as complex as some of the schemes that the noble Lord will have been involved in. From the amounts of money suggested in the various models, it is possible to see that this is an appropriate amount of money. But I do not rule out looking at the matter again if, when the scheme was being set up, there was clearly something that might be of additional benefit that might cost a bit more. We would have to look at that—there is no question of that. But we have probably got that right in this particular context, because of its nature. I know that the noble Lord is thinking, ““That is fascinating, but the interest is around local government””. I wanted to give him as much information as I possibly could on that. We think that the costs that have been estimated for implementing measures in this Bill across England and Wales will be about £20 million in 2006-7 and £2007-8. Most of that—about £17 million—represents additional costs to local authorities. I hesitated over the figure—but I do not know what gets into Hansard any more. I wonder if the Portcullis House bit will. However, I shall soldier on. An additional £3.8 million will be made available to local authorities for the cost of the secondary legislation measures. In terms of delivering that funding, £19.9 million—should any Member of the Committee feel the desire to ask me precisely why it is £19.9 million, I will not be able to tell them—