Dr. Jane Suiter:

Work was done on the 2004 election because we carried out a panel study from 2002 to 2007, which included the local and European elections held in that five-year period. Quite a lot of work was done on that election to the extent that the European elections were second order. We looked at whether people were voting on European issues or on national issues and at questions of that kind. We have not been able to do that since 2004 because the funding has not been there.

The other thing I would say, which is separate to this study but which might feed into an electoral commission, is that part of the role of the commissions in Norway and Finland is to deal with schools. Official hustings are run in all secondary schools during the period before the elections and the students all vote on the same day. It is covered by the media. Two weeks in advance of the election people get to hear how the secondary school students have voted. It actually impacts on the debate. They can be seen coming in. They are run officially. The national candidates might not go into all the schools, although sometimes they will go to some of the bigger schools, but the candidates for the local elections or the European elections will go into schools and speak at these hustings and debates in the schools. It is a really powerful way to bring home the kind of debates that are going on. Something like that could be considered as part of an electoral commission as a way to bring home the importance of political engagement to younger people.

My last point is that we know very well when people turn 16 because we cut them off from child benefit unless they are still in education. I presume we could then add them to an electoral register.