Service Voters’ Registration Period Order 2010

This order, to be made under Section 15(9) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, relates to the statutory time limit on the period of a service declaration made by those electors who are qualified to do so under Section 14(1) of that Act. The order arises from debate in the House on the Political Parties and Elections Act. I would like to remind noble Lords of this context and explain why the Government believe this is a good way to support the electoral registration of service voters before going on to explain the technical aspects of this order. As noble Lords will know, members of the Armed Forces, together with their spouses or civil partners are part of a category referred to for the purposes of electoral administration as "service voters." This category also includes people employed in the service of the Crown abroad, such as members of the Diplomatic Service. These people may consequently register as an elector under a service declaration. Some will register as ordinary or overseas electors, but the service declaration may offer added convenience. It allows for special arrangements to be made in respect of their likely status serving overseas at any given time. Those electors who have made a service declaration are registered in pursuance of it for a period of 12 months or, if members of the armed services, their spouses or civil partners, for three years. This means that Armed Forces personnel do not have to undertake the process of re-registering every year, which would be burdensome given their circumstances. At the end of the 12-month or three-year period as appropriate, a fresh service declaration and an application for registration as an elector may be made. As I said on Report on the Political Parties and Elections Bill, the Government believe that a time limit of some length on the period of a service declaration is necessary to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the electoral register. Indeed, existing primary legislation cements that view and enables the service declaration period to be extended to a maximum of five years for members of the Armed Forces and their spouses. Other service voters continue to benefit only from a 12-month period. If there were to be an indefinite declaration period for service voters, that could lead to personnel inadvertently disenfranchising themselves. The nature of their careers is very mobile and they might expect to be automatically re-registered in any new UK constituency in which they may come to be resident. We are moving towards a system of individual registration which requires all electors to take responsibility for their electoral registration. It is important that this principle is retained for service voters. Registering service personnel to vote in one place for an indefinite period has, in previous decades, created unhealthy inaccuracies in the electoral register, which led to the introduction of a 12-month limitation on service voter registrations in the Representation of the People Act 2000. As an exception, a power was inserted at the same time that allowed secondary legislation to increase the service declaration period to a maximum of five years for members of the Armed Forces and their spouses and, later, their civil partners. The Service Voters’ Registration Period Order 2006 extended the declaration period from one year to three, because three years was seen as a typical length for a military posting overseas. I should add that the Secretary of State has powers under Section 15(9) of the 1983 Act to substitute another period not exceeding five years, as he thinks fit. The order before us today will amend the provisions that enable members of the Armed Forces and their spouses or civil partners to register to vote under a service declaration. It will extend the statutory time limit on a declaration made by those who are entitled, and who wish to register in this way, from the current limit of three years to the period of five years which, as above, is the maximum extension permitted. We propose that this order, which applies to the United Kingdom as a whole, will come into force on the day after the day on which it is made. This order will require amendments to current legislation in three respects. First, Section 15(2)(a) of the 1983 Act, which governs service declarations, will now have the effect that service declarations made by members of the armed services and their spouses and civil partners will last for five years after they have been made. Further, the order and Section 15(12) of the 1983 Act will operate together automatically to extend any existing declaration in place when the order comes into force so that it lapses five years from the date on which it was originally made, rather than three years from that date. Secondly, the following consequential amendments to secondary legislation will be required. Article 3 of this order makes a consequential amendment to Regulation 25(3)(b) of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001. This amendment ensures that a service voter to whom this order applies will receive a letter from their electoral registration officer as a reminder that their service declarations should be renewed, three months before the end of the new five-year period. Articles 4 and 5 make corresponding consequential amendments to other regulations covering Scotland and Northern Ireland. Thirdly, the Service Voters’ Registration Period Order 2006 and the equivalent Northern Ireland order will be revoked. Why are the Government taking this action? In addition to considering the views of noble Lords on this matter at Report stage of the PPE Act, many of whom have extensive experience in the Armed Forces, the Government have consulted with representatives of service personnel, their families, the Electoral Commission and honourable Members from another place. We acknowledge that more needs to be done on the question of registration rates among members of the Armed Forces, and a significant amount is already being done to drive up registration in this important area ahead of the general election. The number of service voters—that is, those who have made a service declaration in the UK on 1 December 2009—increased by 15 per cent from the previous year’s figure, at 25,237 compared with 21,928 the year before. Many personnel and their families choose instead to register as ordinary or overseas electors, but the increase that I have referred to shows that some progress is being made. There is more to be done. The most recent service voting survey, carried out by MoD’s statistical branch and published in June last year, estimated that 65 per cent of service personnel were registered, and only 48 per cent of service personnel stationed overseas. That is lower than we would like, but it is worth noting that registration rates for younger age groups are generally lower than for older groups, at 44 per cent for 20 to 24 year-olds according to the Electoral Commission, and 30 per cent of the Armed Forces are aged between 18 and 24, compared with 18 per cent of the general population. None the less, it remains an important issue to address. Easing the administrative burden of re-registering to vote will help us to do so. One aspect that came up time and again in responses by personnel to the MoD survey was the view that registering was important and that it was a personal responsibility to do so. We must retain this individual responsibility, and provide personnel and their families with information and resources to complete their registration. Great progress has been made on this since the last general election, with the introduction of an annual registration campaign run by the Electoral Commission and targeted at every unit around the world. The order would retain the individual responsibility of personnel and their families to register while improving convenience. This is an important part of our work to encourage higher registration rates in the service community, while at the same time maintaining an accurate electoral register. I commend the draft order to the Committee.