Question

To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what estimate he has made of the (a) average number of electors in a county council division and (b) percentage variance from that average in each such division.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England collects and publishes data annually on every local authority in England. Data derived from electoral registers in December 2017 show that:

(a) Given that electoral divisions in England can be represented by one or two councillors, the Commission does not collect data on the average number of voters living in them. The average number of electors per county councillor in England is 9,327.

(b) The Commission strongly believes that every English local authority is different, faces diverse challenges and represents people and communities in a variety of ways. The Commission therefore does not examine electoral division or ward data against a national average. When drawing up electoral arrangements or deciding whether to include a council in its work programme, the Commission compares the number of electors in each division with the average for the council within which it is located. The spreadsheet, which can be accessed through the following link, sets out the electoral variance of every electoral division and ward in England against the average for that local authority alongside other electorate data http://www.lgbce.org.uk/resources/electoral-data.