Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2006

I thank the Minister for that very clear explanation of the regulations, which we discussed in considerable detail during the passage of the Electoral Administration Bill—now Act—when an enormous number of changes were made. I do not have much to say on the Representation of the People (England and Wales) (Amendment)(No. 2) Regulations 2006. The Minister cleared up a point that I had not picked up in detail. She said that there will be an annual requirement to renew anonymous registration. That is extremely important, otherwise anonymous registration could go on for ever. I was intending to ask whether there was a time limit, so the noble Baroness’s explanation saves me asking a question and her giving me an answer. The Minister talked about absent voting and the personal identifiers provision. She is correct that we managed to get two identifiers put in during the passage of the legislation—the signature and the date of birth. I am a little puzzled about the percentage that has been selected for examination. I do not remember discussing what a suitable percentage would be. One in five of all postal votes applied for and cast seems to be quite small. Is that a sufficient sample to pick up flaws? Against what criteria was that figure assessed? I know that the Electoral Commission wants 100 per cent provision, although I understand that, particularly at these early stages, that may be a step too far. I can envisage the electoral registration officers getting quite wound up about having to check every vote until they are used to doing so. But 20 per cent seems very low. Perhaps the Minister will let me know against what criteria these figures were set. On the service voters’ registration, we have memories of a valiant battle lost. The Minister will not be surprised to hear that we think that these measures are extremely second rate. The extension of the duration of the service voters’ registration, which I know has taken place since we discussed this matter, was originally going to be for five years, but it seems somehow to have slipped back to three years. Perhaps the Minister will explain why that has happened. As we made clear during the passage of the Bill, we are not sure that any of this is enough to ensure that service voters are given the opportunity to vote, particularly if they are abroad. We still believe that the MoD has behaved badly. It could have taken far more responsibility for ensuring that servicemen had the right to vote and were under its eye in order to do so. The rather wishy-washy proposals, whereby people keep an eye on the register, do not seem to do anything much to bring about a satisfactory outcome. The requirement is merely to record a register and to keep an eye out. We are not happy with that. The Minister will not be surprised at this, but we must keep on recording our objection to the fact that these measures simply do not answer the problem. It will be interesting to see whether at the next election the situation is any better at all as a result of this. On the review of polling districts, we all agreed that polling stations should be accessible. These days, it is completely unacceptable that anybody with a disability should not be able to get into a polling station, or to get a postal vote if they cannot, or cannot get out. We have no objections to any of these provisions. In general, then, we support these measures, but with grave reservations about the service voters’ registration.