Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 14 May (WA 507), what allowance was made in each of the last five years for funding local authorities to pay the expenses incurred by a registration officer in the performance of their registration duties.

Funding for local authorities provided by central Government through Formula Grant up until 2012-13 or the current Business Rates Retention scheme is un-hypothecated and, therefore, it is not possible to provide a figure for any specific service in a year. Funding for all net costs of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration is paid through non-ring fenced section 31 grants to local authorities in England. Spending decisions are made by local authorities and details of expenditure can be found in the annual Local Government statistics at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-financial-statistics-england-2014

Details of the Individual Electoral Registration funding are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254816/Indicative_allocations_spreadsheet_formatted.xlsx