Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what support his Department is providing (a) universities and (b) schools and colleges to ensure students are signed on to the electoral register following the introduction of Individual Voter Registration.

Online registration has made registering to vote quicker and more convenient for the majority of electors, including young people. Ahead of the elections on 7 May, £530,000 was allocated to organisations that work to encourage student electoral registration, including £380,000 to the National Union of Students. Universities and local authorities continue to work closely together through the Student Forum, established by the Cabinet Office. A number of learning resources promoting electoral registration in schools have also been developed in partnership with youth organisations. In addition, there are interesting pilots of the new system to improve student voter registration at Sheffield University and elsewhere, which we are studying carefully.