A report on Individual Electoral Registration was presented to the Council’s Coordinating Committee on 15 January 2014 and subsequently considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 13 March 2014. The Cabinet requested that the report be referred to the Constituency Committees as a topic for discussion.

The Principal Electoral Services Officer presented the report of the Director of Public Health/Head of Policy and Performance upon Individual Electoral Registration (IER), which had been presented to the Council’s Coordinating Committee on 15 January 2014 and subsequently to the Cabinet at its meeting on 13 March 2014. The Cabinet requested that the report be referred to Constituency Committees as a topic for discussion.

She confirmed that IER had been implemented on 10 June 2014 and all local authorities had been asked to check their match rate against DWP date. Wirral’s accuracy rate was above the national average and in Wirral West it was expected that over 90% of electors would be registered automatically. Residents were now able to register online and, although this had proved to be very successful, the challenge was how best to target the 10% who were not registered. There was to be a national campaign in August 2014, which would be complemented in Wirral with local initiatives to raise awareness, the cost of which would be fully funded until 2015, after which, any additional costs would have to be met by the Council.

In response to concerns expressed with regard to the security of data exchange with the DWP, she indicated that it was done by way of a secure digital data server, which had been tested to ensure that it was both accurate and secure.

Resolved – That the report be noted