Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of using vehicle registration databases held by the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency to increase levels of voter registration.

Prior to the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in 2014, the potential benefits of using Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data as part of implementing IER were assessed. This investigation demonstrated that DVLA data could not readily be used to verify individuals’ identity, nor ascertain the names and addresses of people who are not registered but are entitled to be registered to vote.

The Government decided upon using National Insurance Numbers for verifying applicant’s identities during the registration process.

The Government is committed to increasing the levels of voter registration and voter registration processes are subject to ongoing review.