The chairmen of two Commons select committees are divided over whether to press ahead with reform of the electoral registration system.

The committee on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its counterpart shadowing the Department for Constitutional Affairs called for changes in the way electors register to vote.

But their study stopped short of offering definite proposals for how the system should be reformed.

Instead, the MPs put the ball back into the government's court, calling on ministers to take a "greater lead".

Andrew Bennett, chairman of the ODPM committee, said his personal view was that Britain should "move swiftly to individual registration" instead of its current system based on households.

But the constitutional affairs committee chairman, Alan Beith, indicated he was more cautious.

"On the basis of the evidence we heard I do not believe that a move to individual registration should be undertaken until measures likely to increase registration have been put in place and proved effective," he said.

"There is no point in making so fundamental a change if the effect would be to reduce the proportion of the eligible population who are registered to vote."

However, Bennett argued that it was possible to make the switch without reducing the number of people listed on the electoral registers.

"With vigorous data swapping between electoral registration officers and utilities, the Post Office, DVLA and others, very few names would be lost from the register," he suggested.

Individual registration could also "dramatically reduce the chances of fraud", Bennett said.

Vital change

For the Conservatives, spokesman Oliver Heald said the "inadequacy of the current electoral roll" had been shown in last June's all-postal pilots.

"It is vital that we move ahead with the Northern Ireland system of individual electoral registration to safeguard the integrity of the Britain's electoral system," he said.

"But the government have dragged their feet on this badly needed measure.

"Under Labour, the electoral practices of the 18th and early 19th centuries, such as intimidation and fraud, risk becoming the hallmark of the 21st."

Options for change

In their joint report, the two committees set out four broad options for change.

A new system of registration based around individuals registering themselves could be introduced in two years' time, said the committees.

Alternatively, the principle of individual registration could be accepted without setting a date for implementation.

A third option would be to adapt the existing system of household registration by requiring individual signatures on the registration form.

Or the system could be left evolve as it has done in the past.

The committee said that whichever option is chosen, a range of methods are available to increase registration levels.

These could include better data-sharing, educational strategies or electronic forms of registration.