asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is their response to the call by Judge Andrew Gilbart QC on 19 October at Preston Crown Court for inquiries into how the system of proxy voting could be improved.[HL7854]

We will wish to study the judge's remarks carefully. The Electoral Administration Act 2006 includes a number of provisions to strengthen the security of proxy voting which we intend will all be in force at the May 2007 elections:

The new personal identifiers provisions will apply to proxy votes. The elector who appoints the proxy will have to supply their date of birth and signature when applying for a proxy vote, and they can be checked by the electoral registration officer (ERO) against any previously provided by the elector to the ERO or local authority.

A person appointed as proxy who wishes to vote by post will—like other postal voters—be required to provide their date of birth and signature when they apply for a postal vote and, at elections, they will have to provide them on the postal voting statement, and if the personal identifiers do not match this may lead to the vote being invalid.

Persons appointed as a proxy who vote in person at a polling station will have to sign for their ballot paper, like all other polling station voters. These signatures will be kept after the election and may be scrutinized if there is a police investigation into alleged fraud or an election petition.

There is a new offence of falsely applying for a postal or proxy vote. This new offence was brought into force on 11 September 2006.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the application forms for proxy votes will be redesigned to make them clearer to electors completing them; and whether they will make it mandatory to provide more information on the reasons why electors are unable to attend their usual polling station.[HL7855]

We consider that the current statutory provisions that set out the requirements for applying for a proxy vote are sufficiently clear. We understand that the independent Electoral Commission will be issuing guidance to electoral officers to ensure all election forms, including proxy application forms, are clear, accessible and easy to understand, and we will support the commission in the production of such guidance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will restrict the availability of proxy votes to those people who would be unable either to visit their usual polling station or to receive and fill in a postal vote.[HL7856]

There are already clear rules on who may apply for a proxy vote and in what circumstances. Proxy voting gives greater choice to electors who may not be able to get to a polling station to vote; for example voters with a disability, service voters, or people who unexpectedly fall ill at the time of an election. We therefore do not plan to restrict the availability of proxy votes as suggested by the noble Lord.