Electoral Register

(asked on 24th February 2015) - View Source

Question

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, when the Electoral Commission first knew of the problems with the registration software used by Electoral Registration Officers; and what steps the Commission has taken to overcome those problems.


Answered by
Gary Streeter Portrait
Gary Streeter
This question was answered on 3rd March 2015

The Electoral Commission report on the transition to individual electoral registration, published on 24 February, set out the problems encountered with the electoral management software (EMS) systems used by Electoral Registration Officers, when collecting data about the 1 December registers. These problems do not relate to either the online registration system or the wider functionality of the local EMS systems.

The Electoral Commission became aware of this problem once the first data returns were submitted by Electoral Registration Officers shortly after 1 December.

Since that date the Electoral Commission has worked closely with the Cabinet Office and directly with electoral management software suppliers to refine the reporting function within their systems. There have been substantial improvements in the data returns, but further work is still needed to ensure the data provided in May is more reliable. The Commission is continuing to work with the Cabinet Office and software suppliers on this.

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