To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission how much was spent on electoral registration initiatives in each of the last 10 years. (315043)

The Electoral Commission informs me that total expenditure on electoral registration initiatives in each of the last two years was as follows:

2007-08: £6,461,000

2008-09: £6,683,000

Initiatives included in these costs include guidance for electoral administrators, activity relating to the performance standards framework for electoral registration officers, research, the Commission’s partnership grants programme and public awareness campaigns to promote voter registration.

Equivalent information for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost as expenditure was accounted for under more than one corporate objective.