Question

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what interim assessments the Electoral Commission has made of the accuracy of the data on registration rates collected in the run-up to the introduction of individual electoral registration; and what procedures were in place to enable concerns about that data to be raised.

The Electoral Commission informs me that the main source of reliable information on registration rates have been the Commission’s own reports on the accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers. The most recent report was published in July 2014 and is available on the Commission’s website, here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/169889/Completeness-and-accuracy-of-the-2014-electoral-registers-in-Great-Britain.pdf

The household surveying methodology for these studies and the analysis conducted on the findings are robust. The findings were also recently verified by a separate study using census data which found, for the same electoral registers, similar levels of accuracy and completeness as the household survey.

In addition, the Office for National Statistics annually collects and publishes the number of entries on the 1 December electoral registers. The Office for National Statistics checks any apparent anomalies in the data with the relevant Electoral Registration Officers.