Electoral Administration Bill

moved Amendment No. 85:"Page 15, line 13, leave out from ““by”” to end of line 14 and insert ““sections 13 and 14 (except section 14(3)(a))””" The noble Baroness said: In moving Amendment No. 85 I wish to speak also to Amendments Nos. 126 and 129. These amendments correct a small drafting error in the Bill which I shall try to describe with as much clarity as possible. As the Committee will know, the Bill includes the power to hold pilots of the collection and use of personal identifiers. As part of these pilots, electors will be asked a new question at the polling station. The new question is: ““What is your date of birth?”” Consequential to this change is the ability, at Clause 13(5) of the Bill, for a person to receive a tendered ballot paper if they give an answer to the date of birth question that does not match the information held on record. Not linked to the personal identifier pilots, the Bill includes at paragraph 71 of the schedule a new requirement for electors to provide their signature when they vote at a polling station. Signatures will not be checked on the spot but are intended to provide an audit trail for use in alleged cases of fraud. This provision has also necessitated a consequential change, at Clause 14(3)(a), to provide that if a person casts a tendered ballot they must also provide their signature. The issue the amendments in this group address is that where the Bill defines the ““personal identifier provisions”” which may be the subject of pilots—at Clause 15(13)—the consequential changes in relation to tendered ballots which I have described have been treated incorrectly. As a result the signing in polling stations consequential change has been treated as a personal identifier provision while the change made as a consequence of asking for a person’s date of birth has not. The reverse should be the case. The first amendment in this group corrects this drafting error, with the remaining two amendments making consequential changes to the Bill’s commencement provisions. I hope that is clear and that the Committee will feel able to accept these small drafting points. Accepting these changes does not commit the Committee to accepting the clause as a whole, which I understand Members of the Committee may not be agreed upon and may wish to raise at future stages of our deliberations. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to.