To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to check what proportion of postal vote identifiers were checked in the 2007 local elections. (142188)

On 20 February, the Department for Constitutional Affairs formally requested the Commission to carry out a review of the introduction of personal identifiers for absent voting in England and Wales, and to report by 31 July 2007. The Electoral Commission informs me that it has asked Returning Officers to supply information about the levels of checking they undertook in the 2007 local elections, and intends to include the information supplied by Returning Officers in its report.