To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what response he has made to the recommendation of the Electoral Commission to require local authority returning officers to check 100 per cent. of the identifiers of postal votes in election counts. (154331)

The Government are committed to the principle that 100 per cent. of returned postal votes should be checked. The Government will wish to move to 100 per cent. checking when it is appropriate and safe to do so, and in particular when there is deemed to be sufficient supplier capacity for checking all returned postal votes. We will work closely with the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators in order to establish when this position has been reached.