Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of the Hon Member for Chester North and Neston in the eight sitting of the Representation of the People Bill Committee, 16 April 2026, col 359, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of drafting and publishing a report assessing a range of options to support postal voting for overseas electors.

The Department has not made a specific estimate of the cost of drafting and publishing such a report. As set out during the Representation of the People Bill Committee, the Government considers that the issues raised have already been extensively examined.

In the 2025 policy paper, Restoring trust in our democracy: Our strategy for modern and secure elections, the Government set out a package of measures intended to improve the resilience and responsiveness of the postal voting system overall. These measures include moving the postal vote application, and candidate nomination deadlines earlier in the electoral timetable. This will provide more time for the production, distribution and return of postal vote packs. These changes will benefit all administrators and voters, including those living overseas.