Agenda item

The Committee considered a report which provided an update on the implementation of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in Lewisham.

The Head of Law commented that Members had been provided with a number of updates relating to IER over the past year. The Head of Law further explained that the London Borough of Lewisham were amongst the first tranche of Local Authorities who were asked to submit information to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for the data matching exercise. Around 46,000 individuals’ information did not match, and each of these individuals needed to be directly contacted to ask for their personal information. Another complication was that non-responders to the annual canvass also needed to be contacted. The Elections team sent Household Enquiry Forms (HEF) to households where the team were unaware of who was in residence. This related to around 21,000 households.

The Committee noted that the Council was conducting its canvass four weeks later than usual, and that this scenario was repeated in every Local Authority across the country.

The Electoral Services Manager confirmed to the Committee that the figure of unverified voters had fallen from 46,000 individuals to around 35,000 individuals following targeted contact, and that the numbers were decreasing over time. There was a further concern around postal voters who may not be aware of the need to be IER registered, and may only find out when they were unable to vote.

The Electoral Services Manager outlined the Council’s plans to purchase a small number of mobile devices to assist in the canvassing process, whereby canvassers would be able to knock on individual’s doors and request that they securely submit all of their information there and then. Further benefits would be that less canvassers would need to be hired, and that the Electoral Services Manager would be able to directly monitor which households had been visited.

A number of Members commented that there had not appeared to be an engagement strategy with the public, such as posters and advertisements. The Electoral Services Manager commented that the London Borough of Lewisham was subscribed to the Electoral Commission’s campaigns and as such, the Council were waiting on the Electoral Commission’s own campaign to be launched. It was confirmed to Members that this issue would be chased up.

Councillor Alicia Kennedy requested that a ward by ward breakdown of information regarding difficult to reach households be provided to her.

A number of Members queried whether canvassers could use the mobile devices to request that individuals access the government’s own IER website on the device and register securely through that format, rather than using supplier provided software. The Chief Executive highlighted the need for strong security when using these systems, and confirmed that this possibility would be explored further. There was a view that if the tablets were to be purchased, this would be completed in January 2015.

Councillor Alicia Kennedy felt it important to continue to encourage youth engagement, and queried whether the Electoral Services team had plans to use Government initiatives such as Bite the Ballot and Rock Enrol. The Electoral Services Manager commented that he was unaware of receiving information relating to these initiatives, but would look into the issue further. The Electoral Services Manager further confirmed that a list of Goldsmiths students could be received directly from the College to assist with getting students to register to vote in the Borough. Councillor Alicia Kennedy also requested a breakdown of ward information relating to postal voters affected by the changes who may be unaware of the need to be IER registered. The Head of Law noted that the Council was considering contacting all postal voters in the Borough to update them on the process and to let them know how they are directly affected.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Meeting closed at 8.58 p.m.