Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the requirement to provide support to civic events marking the coronation of His Majesty the King on 6 May 2023 on the capacity of local government officials and returning officers to carry out elections to both parish councils and other tiers of local government on 4 May 2023 and election counts on 5 and 6 May 2023; and if he will take steps to provide additional support to councils to carry out those elections.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We understand that communities across the country will want to join in celebrating the Coronation of His Majesty the King on 6 May 2023 and that local authorities and their staff will, as ever, have a critical role in facilitating those celebrations. We are considering across Government any potential impacts on public service delivery, and this of course includes the delivery of scheduled local elections.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reductions in local authority funding on levelling up.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
We have not reduced local government funding. We are making available £54.1 billion to local government in England through this year's Settlement, an increase of up to £3.7 billion from last year, including over £1 billion specifically for adult social care pressures.
Through this year’s settlement, the most relatively deprived areas of England will receive 14% more per dwelling in available resource than the least deprived areas.
For Lancashire County Council, this represents a cash-terms increase in Core Spending Power of up to 8.2% compared to last year, worth £71.8 million.
For Lancaster City Council, this is a cash-terms increase of up to 3.9% and for Wyre Council, this represents a cash-terms increase in Core Spending Power of up to 6.8%.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to Answer of 7 March 2022 to Question 905919, which provisions in the Elections Bill strengthen the controls against ineligible foreign spending on electoral campaigning.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Part 4 of the Elections Bill will restrict all third-party campaigning at elections (above a £700 de minimis) to UK-based (or otherwise eligible) campaigners. This measure will work to stop ineligible foreign spending on electoral campaigning.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps he is taking to prevent donations from groups or individuals based overseas from unduly influencing elections in the UK.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
UK electoral law already sets out a stringent regime of donations controls to ensure that only those with a legitimate interest in UK elections, such as UK electors or UK-registered companies, can make political donations.
Measures in the Elections Bill go even further to strengthen the controls against ineligible foreign spending on electoral campaigning.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what involvement Ministers and officials from his Department have had in the upcoming SEND Review and Green Paper.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The cross-government SEND review, led by the Department for Education (DfE), is looking at ways to make the SEND system consistent, high quality, and integrated across education, health and care. DfE are co-producing the Review as much as possible with stakeholders. DLUHC sits on the SEND Review Steering Group; and my officials are working closely with DfE colleagues on the Review.
The Group draws its membership from organisations representing parents, children and young people, the voluntary and community sector, early years, schools, further education, health and care organisations and institutions, local authorities, government departments and expert advisers. This makes it well placed to advise on the Review’s progress and make sure it is well informed, taking into account the views of the groups who are represented. A full list of Steering Group members can be found by visiting https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/send-review-steering-group.
The outcome of the SEND Review will be published in the first three months of this year as a Green Paper for full public consultation. We remain engaged to ensure the review delivers a suitable outcome for local government, as well as for parents, children and young people.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 100668 on Elections: Fraud, if he will publish the number of cases of (a) alleged and (b) confirmed voter fraud that were identified in 2020.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Electoral Commission works with police forces to collect data on the number of allegations and cases of electoral fraud and publishes the data on its website.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many overseas electors will be eligible to register to vote in the event that the 15 year rule is removed under the proposals set out in the Elections Bill.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Elections Bill Impact Assessment estimates the removal of the 15 year rule will increase the number of British citizens abroad who are eligible to register to vote from 0.9 million - 1.1 million people to 3.2 million - 3.4 million people in 2023/24. It is not possible to accurately estimate the future numbers of overseas electors, due to the uncertainty over what proportion of the newly enfranchised will choose to register. The central estimate in the Impact Assessment for the Elections Bill considers the scenario in which 550,000 overseas electors are registered to vote in 2024 - an increase of 320,000 compared to the numbers of overseas electors registered at the time of the 2019 general election (by way of context, there were 47.6 million UK Parliamentary electors registered at the 2019 general election).
This suggests a potential uplift in the number of persons on the Parliamentary electoral register in the region of 0.7%, and such numbers would be distributed across the country.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers from Senedd Cymru on provisions in the Elections Bill that apply to elections in Wales.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
I recently met with the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution as part of the Interministerial Group on Elections and Registration to discuss the Elections Bill and wider matters relating to elections and registration. My predecessor met regularly with Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution both bilaterally, and as part of the Interministerial Group on Elections and Registration. Details of the Inter Ministerial Group are published on gov.uk .
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the total cost of the Cabinet Office IFF research entitled, Photographic ID Research - Headline Findings.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Cabinet Office commissioned IFF Research to conduct quantitative research to understand the levels of ownership of the accepted forms of photographic identification among those eligible to vote in Great Britain and to inform planning for the implementation of voter identification nationwide. Details of Government contracts and the cost of this research are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 23 September 2021 to Question 48273 on Elections: Proof of Identity, if he will publish the names of the projects within the Electoral Integrity Programme that are supporting the implementation of the changes created by the Elections Bill.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Electoral Integrity Programme is running concurrent projects to support the delivery of primary legislation, secondary legislation, digital delivery and business change. Within the programme are roles responsible for the implementation of the changes created by the Elections Bill. We continue to work with local authorities, the Electoral Commission, charities and civil society organisations to make sure that reforms are delivered in a way that is inclusive for all voters.