Evidence on the administration of electoral rolls

Witnesses

At 10am

• Association of Electoral Administrators (John Turner), the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (Jocelyn McCarley), and SOLACE (Michel Saminaden)

At 11.00am

• The Electoral Commission (Jenny Watson, Chair, Peter Wardle, Chief Executive, and Andrew Scallan, Director of Electoral Administration and Boundaries)

Purpose of the session

The purpose of the first panel is to examine how those responsible for the administration of electoral rolls and elections at local authority level react to the Government’s proposals for moving from household to individual electoral registration from 2014, and in particular the resource implications of the change; as well as to identify lessons from the Northern Ireland experience of moving to individual registration in 2002.

Similar issues will then be raised with the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for supervising and implementing the regulatory framework for the electoral system.

The views of both panels will also be sought on the Government’s proposals for other legislative change in this area, in particular to the general election timetable. The Electoral Commission has previously appeared before the Committee twice, most recently on 10 February.