Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, for tabling these amendments; he indicated to me that he had to leave and that they would be spoken to by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. They raise important issues which it is very helpful for the Committee to have the opportunity to address. Amendment 115 obliges by law that counting officers should not allocate more than 1,050 electors to any polling station within their voting areas. This is a very worthy and laudable attempt to address the problems, referred to by the noble and learned Lord in moving this amendment, which arose at some polling stations in the May 2010 election, when a number of electors were unable to cast their votes due to queues forming at certain polling stations. Although these incidents were isolated, they are certainly not taken lightly—I emphasise that again. It is the responsibility of electoral administrators to provide for the smooth running of the voting process in elections, and that includes contingency plans to cater for events such as when there is a higher than expected turnout at one or more polling stations for which they are responsible for allocating voters and for staffing. The chief counting officer for the referendum is, of course, the chair of the Electoral Commission and she has the power to direct all other counting officers across the United Kingdom who administer the referendum. The Electoral Commission has indicated that the chief counting officer intends to issue directions to counting officers as to the maximum number of electors to be allocated to any polling station and the associated minimum number of staff to be present at each polling station. As I indicated in response to an amendment moved earlier by the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, the Electoral Commission has already started to issue guidance to counting officers on the number of polling staff who will be required. I am therefore concerned that the amendment would remove any discretion, both of the chief counting officer and of all other counting officers, to decide how many electors should be allocated to each polling station and the number of staff who should be present at each polling station. To give an example, it does not seem sensible to require that a village of, say, 1,200 electors should have two polling stations when there is no suggestion that previous arrangements for that village have proved inadequate. Indeed, it might even mean that fewer staff were available at each polling station to assist voters. It is that kind of flexibility which we would not like to remove from the chief counting officer. We know that queues arose in the elections of May last year primarily because of planning failures and the lack of effective contingency planning. However, we believe that at the polls being held in May this year, better guidance, better staff training and support and better planning procedures in the run-up to the polls would be more appropriate and more effective in addressing the issues that have been raised, as opposed to placing statutory limits on the number of voters who can be allocated. I hope that the chief counting officer’s stated intention to issue directions to counting officers on this issue will reassure noble Lords and that the House will recognise that the amendment would reduce flexibility, and that that in turn could increase risks and not necessarily prove good value for money. On the second amendment, which would oblige all counting officers to print 100 per cent of ballot papers, I must say that until last year I always thought that that was the case anyway. The purpose is that they should print the same number of ballot papers as there are voters on the electoral register in their area of responsibility. Currently, they must print only the number of ballot papers that they feel is necessary. As the Electoral Commission notes, there were problems with ballot papers at the previous general election. The Report on the Administration of the 2010 UK General Election stated at paragraph 5.13: "““We are also aware of some isolated reports that voters at a small number of polling stations may also have experienced other problems. These included … polling stations where supplies of ballot papers ran out during polling day before being replenished””." Even though these incidents were isolated and do not appear to have stopped anyone casting their votes, we certainly do not take that situation lightly. It is the responsibility of electoral administrators to provide for the smooth running of the voting process. That includes contingency plans to cater for events such as a higher than expected turnout. However, I hope to reassure the Committee that the intention of the amendment can be achieved without the need for its inclusion in primary legislation. The chief counting officer for the referendum—as I have already indicated, she is also chair of the Electoral Commission—has the power to direct all other counting officers who administer the referendum. Further discussions with the Electoral Commission have identified that the chief counting officer intends to direct all counting officers to print 100 per cent of their ballot papers. The Electoral Commission believes that the power of direction allows the chief counting officer to require counting officers to print ballot papers according to her direction. This allows her suitable flexibility to be able to decide what is right in particular circumstances, should this be necessary. I hope that the chief counting officer’s stated intention to direct that 100 per cent of ballot papers be printed will reassure the Committee, but equally we believe that the Electoral Commission’s preference for the chief counting officer to have flexibility in this area should also be respected. Finally with regard to Amendment 121, I take the point that wording is important. However, I do not accept the concern of the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, that holding the local elections and the referendum together will cause huge difficulty given that last year a general election and local elections were held together, and that is not unprecedented. The amendment seeks to modify the wording of the notice which must be exhibited in polling stations across the country on the date of the poll. This is a helpful and sensible amendment and would ensure consistency with the formulation of words used in a number of forms in the Bill, to which the noble and learned Lord drew our attention, such as the postal voting statement, declaration of identity and proxy poll cards. The noble and learned Lord asked me to explain the measure. I draw the Committee’s attention to rule 10 of this schedule on page 31 of the Bill, which grants the chief counting officer responsible for administering the poll the discretion to amend the voter-facing materials prescribed by the Bill for the purposes of making these materials easier for voters to use or understand. This encompasses the notice prescribed by rule 17(7), which is the subject matter of this amendment. I do not think that it would be helpful at this stage for the Committee to amend aspects of the Bill which are the subject of future modification by the chief counting officer. We know that she is considering the modifications that she may wish to make to these voter-facing materials, and the Government do not wish at this time to pre-empt any decisions which she may take to amend them. However, I assure the Committee that the Government have discussed this amendment with the Electoral Commission and the chief counting officer will bear this recommendation in mind when publishing modifications to the forms, as she is statutorily entitled to do under rule 10. Practical issues have been raised but I hope I have reassured the Committee that an element of discretion is left to the Electoral Commission and that these very important issues are being addressed. On that basis I ask the noble and learned Lord to withdraw the amendment.