Written questions by McMurdock.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, how many early in-person polling locations will be utilised in each local authority.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, whether council office buildings will be used for early in-person voting.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what timescale he is working towards for a national rollout after the flexible voting trials.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what safeguards will be in place to ensure the security of the ballot boxes at shopping centres.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what discussions he has had with local authorities on their capacity to conduct early in-person voting.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what research his Department conducted on the potential impact of weekend voting prior to the policy announcement.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what turnout increase threshold his Department will use to assess the effectiveness of the flexible voting pilots.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the flexible voting pilots taking place at the May 2026 local elections.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what criteria were used to select local authorities for participation in the flexible voting pilot schemes.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, what safeguards will be in place to ensure the secrecy of the ballot if a polling station is in a shopping centre.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Weekend voting and shopping centre polling stations to be trialled, published on 2 March 2026, how many days ahead of polling day will early in-person voting be permitted.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 84647 on 31 October 2025. In August 2025, local authorities were invited to apply to pilot a range of flexible voting methods at the May 2026 elections in England. Authorities were required to demonstrate a clear understanding of the pilot objectives, feasibility to deliver within the timeframe, appropriate resourcing and supplier management, proportionate contingency planning, and effective communication arrangements. The Government is funding the costs of the flexible voting pilots. Final costs are not yet available. As with all elections, responsibility for the manner, conduct and security of polls lies with the Returning Officer. Voting hubs, either on or in advance of the regular day of poll, will be subject to the same security and secrecy provisions as regular polling stations. The Electoral Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent, statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and will publish its findings.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 2 March 2026 to question 115145 on Local Government: Elections, whether regularly scheduled elections for a third of Basildon borough councillors and shadow council elections to the new authority due to be established in 2028 will take place in Basildon in 2027.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 115145 on 2 March 2026. The timetable set out there applies to Basildon.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department on the number of people who have attempted to vote but were prevented from doing so due to not being registered in each of the last ten years.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not collect or hold data on the number of individuals who attempt to vote but are unable to do so because they are not registered to vote.Elections are administered locally by independent Returning Officers and their staff, who are statutorily responsible for the operation of polling stations during elections.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of people who have tried and failed to register to vote in each of the last ten years.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government does not collect nor hold data on the outcomes of electoral registration applications. Electoral registration is administered locally by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) who are statutorily responsible for the maintenance of the Parliamentary and Local registers for the area for which they act. The duty of determining applications to register to vote therefore falls to them.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to pause (a) Parliamentary constituency and (b) local election boundary reviews until every area covered by the respective authority has concluded its automatic registration process.

Everyone who is eligible to register to vote should be able, supported and encouraged to do so. The sole aim of moving towards automated registration is to increase the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will test automated registration in a range of different locations and settings, with different characteristics and challenges, to ensure anything we implement permanently works for everyone. We will be guided throughout by principles of fairness and open engagement. We are consulting a range of stakeholders to develop this programme, including the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, local authorities and civil society organisations. We will also continue to offer engagement with political parties. The Parliamentary and Local Government Boundary Commission for England are independent of Government. The timings of Parliamentary Boundary Reviews are set by legislation, and the Governmenthas no plans to bring forward legislation to amend these. The timings of local electoral reviews in England are decided by the Local Boundary Commission for England, who will continue to make these decisions independently of Government.

Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) elections staff, (b) candidates, (c) activists, and (d) other people that were involved in elections who have been subjected to intimidation, harassment, assault, and other criminal behaviours in each of the last ten years.

We are clear that intimidation and abuse of those participating in public life has no place in our society and cannot be tolerated. MHCLG does not engage directly with candidates or collect wider information about those involved in elections' experience of harassment and intimidation. MHCLG’s role is to provides all candidates and returning officers with security guidance ahead of elections periods. MHCLG works closely with the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which leads on the cross-government response to harassment and intimidation, including work to evaluate its nature and scale, as well as with the police, Electoral Commission and Local Government Association, who also collect relevant information.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his statement to the House of Commons on 2 March 2026 on the Representation of the People Bill, col 627, how many people in the figure that he provided of 7 or 8 million people being eligible to vote but are not currently registered are (a) British citizens, (b) Irish citizens, and (c) Commonwealth citizens.

Research published in 2023 by the Electoral Commission (EC) estimated that between seven and eight million eligible people are either incorrectly registered or not registered to vote at all. As part of this research, the EC considered how the completeness of the register varied by a range of demographic characteristics, including age, gender, nationality and disability. Full data sets were published with the report which is available online on the EC’s Website. It is titled, 2023 report: Electoral Registers in the UK’.The government believes that everyone who is entitled to vote should be able, supported and encouraged to do so. To meet the manifesto commitment to improve voter registration we will be making changes in legislation and testing ways to move towards a more automated voter registration system.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his statement to the House of Commons on 2 March 2026 on the Representation of the People Bill, col 624, who will determine which areas are to be selected for automatic voter registration first.

Everyone who is eligible to register to vote should be able, supported and encouraged to do so. The sole aim of moving towards automated registration is to increase the completeness and accuracy of the electoral register. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will test automated registration in a range of different locations and settings, with different characteristics and challenges, to ensure anything we implement permanently works for everyone. We will be guided throughout by principles of fairness and open engagement. We are consulting a range of stakeholders to develop this programme, including the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators, local authorities and civil society organisations. We will also continue to offer engagement with political parties. The Parliamentary and Local Government Boundary Commission for England are independent of Government. The timings of Parliamentary Boundary Reviews are set by legislation, and the Governmenthas no plans to bring forward legislation to amend these. The timings of local electoral reviews in England are decided by the Local Boundary Commission for England, who will continue to make these decisions independently of Government.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Basildon Council on the a) reuse and b) redevelopment of empty shop units in Basildon town centre.

No specific discussions have been held. The government welcomes representations from Basildon Borough Council as we develop our new High Streets Strategy, backed by at least £150 million.

Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Basildon Council on town centre regeneration plans, in the context of the priorities of a) local residents and b) small businesses.

No specific discussions have been held. The government welcomes representations from Basildon Borough Council as we develop our new High Streets Strategy, backed by at least £150 million.