Political Parties and Elections Bill

I addressed that point earlier when I mentioned the criteria for the pilot, but I am happy to say a little more about it. We genuinely want to consult and take views on it, and we will be interested in the hon. Gentleman's views about how we should structure the scheme. He is right in principle, and we intend to set up the piloting in such a way that it gathers all useful evidence. We are open to what that might be, and his constituency experience will be valuable. The hon. Gentleman is right that we need information about how willing people are to give up their personal information. That will be crucial in deciding how to maintain the comprehensiveness of the register. Some people will be daunted by the requirement, and some will think that it is too much bother. We have to work out how real those problems are and what we can do to address them. We must consider whether public information will work, or whether there are other ways in which we can reach out to people. Those are complex issues, and that is the whole point of the piloting. Some of the databases that we will be using might be very useful for the purpose and some might not, but finding out about all those things will provide invaluable data. That is why we are anxious about rushing the scheme. We certainly do not want to delay it unnecessarily, because it is an important change. We agree that the system is desirable and have tried to strike a balance between ensuring that we get it right, and that people do not fall off the register, and moving with due speed towards implementing it.