Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2006

rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 24 January be approved [16th Report from the Joint Committee and 20th Report from the Merits Committee]. The noble Lord said: My Lords, with these regulations, we are debating the National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) (Amendment) Order 2006 and the Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2006, which appear subsequently on the Order Paper. The Government are taking forward in the regulations and order a number of measures under existing legislation-making powers that are aimed at addressing security concerns around postal voting, improving access for the elector and the administrative effectiveness of elections. The regulations also include some changes to the access to and supply of the electoral register in England, Wales and Scotland. Noble Lords will be reassured to know that the Government have undertaken extensive consultation with key interested parties and the Electoral Commission in bringing forward these proposals. The Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 need to be in place by 24 March to ensure the effective running of this year’s local government elections on 4 May. The draft Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 replicate the provisions of the draft England and Wales regulations for the conduct of parliamentary elections in Scotland, but also take into account the differences in electoral provisions and institutions in Scotland. The conduct of the Scottish local government elections is a devolved matter for the Scottish Ministers, who I understand are planning to introduce legislation before the combined 3 May 2007 elections in Scotland to ensure consistency in electoral practice at elections in Scotland. The measures in the draft National Assembly for Wales order replicate the provisions of the draft regulations for England and Wales, but only in so far as they will apply to any by-election to the National Assembly for Wales called between now and the third ordinary elections, to be held on 3 May 2007. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Wales will undertake a further review of the 2003 Assembly elections order to take into account changes to electoral practice introduced by the Electoral Administration Bill. The limited changes he is making with this order will ensure consistency of electoral practice in Wales in the interim. On 25 May 2005, the Government issued a discussion paper on electoral administration, seeking views on a range of proposals for improving accessibility, enhancing security and improving administrative effectiveness. At the close of consultation on 10 June 2005, 161 written responses had been received. On 11 October 2005, the Government published a report setting out the secondary legislative changes we aimed to have in place for the May 2006 local government elections. The Government have taken on board further views from the Electoral Commission and administrators in developing the measures in these regulations. Similarly, the changes relating to the access to and supply of the electoral register were drafted following extensive consultation with key interested parties. On 30 August 2005, a consultation paper seeking views on the proposed changes was issued to key interested parties and placed on the DCA website. At the close of consultation 75 responses had been received. Respondents were generally supportive of the Government’s proposals and suggested some further changes that form part of the regulations. I turn to specific measures in the regulations and the order. On the conduct side, the regulations and order will help to enhance the security of the postal vote by: requiring existing postal voters to give a reason for asking for their postal vote to be redirected to an address other than that to which postal papers are normally sent for a particular election; and requiring the outcome of all new postal vote applications, including requests to vary the arrangements, to be notified to the elector. These two provisions will work in tandem to alert an elector if someone else has falsely re-directed their vote, clarifying that electoral administrators have the power to check a signature on a postal vote application with any other documents they may hold with the applicant’s signature, to satisfy themselves of the identity or as part of the process of establishing the identity of the applicant. Moving the deadline for application for postal voting from six to 11 days before polling day will give electoral administrators more time to process postal vote applications. The specific measures in the regulations and order aimed at improving access to and participation in the electoral process include: allowing electors to request a replacement postal ballot paper any time up to 5 pm on polling day; clarifying, at the request of the Electoral Commission, that a new set of postal ballot papers may be issued, not just the ballot paper itself; allowing electors to apply for a postal or proxy vote at the same time as registering to vote; leaving the deadline for applying for a proxy vote as six days before polling day, but allowing an emergency proxy application in the five days leading up to polling day and up to 5 pm on polling day itself, with supporting evidence, in cases where an elector becomes physically incapacitated from voting in person; and standardising the polling hours of all local authority referendums and local authority mayoral elections in England and Wales from 7 am to 10 pm. Similar changes to extend polling hours for local government elections in England and Wales are being made in the Local Elections (Principal Areas and Parishes and Communities) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Rules 2006, laid before Parliament on 22 February and coming into force on 24 March. The Government are also introducing improvements to the administrative effectiveness of elections by allowing administrators to securely collect postal ballots that are returned to the polling station before the close of the poll and by extending the collection of statistical information on postal voting for all local government elections in England and Wales. I will now turn to the changes concerning access to and the supply of electoral registers. The current framework governing access and supply was established in 2002. It was introduced in response to privacy and security concerns expressed by the public about the possible misuse of data from the electoral register. It also took into account the ramifications of the Robertson case, where the High Court found that the supply of the electoral register for direct marketing purposes without giving individual electors the opportunity to object was in breach of data protection and human rights law. Under the framework, there are two versions of the register: the full version and the edited version. The main use of the full version of the register, containing the names of all electors, is for electoral purposes, by elected representatives, candidates and political parties. Certain other people and organisations can have access to the full register for specified purposes—for example, the police for prevention and detection of crime. Electors may choose to have their names excluded from the edited version of the register, which may be purchased by anyone, for any purpose. The Government consider the broad policy governing access to and the supply of the electoral register to be settled. They are bringing forward changes to widen access to the full register for a limited number of persons and organisations only. In summary, the proposed changes will provide for the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Financial Services Authority to be supplied with a copy of the electoral register in the same manner as government departments are. The security services will be supplied with the full register for the full range of their statutory functions. Government departments and other specified bodies will be able to use the full register for national security vetting purposes. The National Library of Wales and the National Library of Scotland will be supplied with a full register, in the same way as the British Library is. Public libraries and local authority archive services will be able to request a copy of the full register. Members of the public will be able to use out-of-date electoral registers held by public libraries or archive services for research purposes after 10 years. Local authorities will have access to the full electoral register for the purposes of conducting local polls in England and Wales, under Section 116 of the Local Government Act 2003, and local referendums in Scotland. Authorised users will have access to the full electoral register from a data processor, without first having to obtain a copy from the electoral registration officer. I commend the three draft statutory instruments to the House. I beg to move.