Question

To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will make it its policy to gather information on electoral registration levels on an annual basis.

The Commission carries out regular research studies assessing the accuracy and completeness of the registers. The most recent study, based on the December 2018 registers, will be published in the coming months. These important studies are resource intensive, and it would not be good value for money to do them annually.

The Commission, does, however, gather data from Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) on the size of the electoral registers, as well as on other aspects of their activities to register electors, on an annual basis. This data is used as part of our ERO performance standards assessments and also supports the Commission’s ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of the electoral registration system.