24 August 2012
|
|
Our ref: 179556
|
|
Thank you for
your request received on 4 August 2012, for the following information:
For the
purpose of clarity, please can you provide documentary verification that all of
the items recommended have been implemented and regularly reviewed.
This request
relates to your email of 25 July 2012 below:
…Please
can you confirm that all recommended actions in the report have been completed
and produce documentary evidence to support this.
Specifically,
---------
Specifically,
---------
1. There should be an elections book to
pick up lessons learned from one election to the next, and which can be picked
up to inform any member of a future elections team what needs to be done.
2. Consider future recruitment of an
elections manager
3. Put in place a more detailed project
plan for next election, with clearer contingency arrangements. This should use
the Electoral Commission template that has been produced , supplemented as
necessary to take account of Barnet specific circumstances and the findings of
this report.
4. Review polling districts and the
location of poll stations within them to ensure an appropriate number of
electors are within each district
5. Write to the appropriate body to
support The Electoral Commission findings in respect of the timetable for
Parliamentary elections and the arrangements to enable overseas voters and
service personnel to vote
6. Communications campaign to encourage
voters to vote early.
7. Procurement arrangements for next
election should all use central arrangements (incl written contracts with clear
levels of service)
8. A review of STRAND
should be conducted
9. Others:
Staffing arrangements HR to handle recruitment of count staff for large elections in future
Role of DROs
Precise arrangements for agents briefing meeting
Staffing arrangements HR to handle recruitment of count staff for large elections in future
Role of DROs
Precise arrangements for agents briefing meeting
----------
Given that
two years have elapsed since the problems occurred and we have a coalition
government, would it be reasonable to expect that all of these actions have
been completed?
Given that
we recently had the GLA elections, it is interesting to note that I was unaware
of any effort to encourage voters to vote early as recommended. Maybe you could
provide details of such a campaign?
I would
expect all of these recommendations to have been completed prior to the
Mayoral/GLA elections.
Response
Much of the
information you are requesting is held by the Returning Officer (RO) and
Electoral Returning officer (ERO). EROs and ROs are separate legal
entities from the council; they are not listed as public authorities in
Schedule 1 of FOIA and are therefore not obliged to respond FOIA requests. The
council can only provide information that it holds under FOIA however
information held on behalf of the RO and ERO is not held by the council and
therefore not covered by FOIA.
The RO has
already confirmed to you that the recommendations made following the Elections
review have all been implemented as part of an action plan. I can by way
of advice and assistance provide the information:
- The ‘elections book’ has taken the form of the lessons learned and captured from the 2010 elections and subsequently the review documents from both the 2011 UKPVS Referendum and the 2012 London Mayoral and GLA Assembly Member elections, which have been captured and reviewed in order to inform and assist future election events.
- Following secondment onto the projects managing both the Referendum and GLA elections, an Election Projects Manager was permanently appointed in May 2012.
- The Elections Project Manager utilised detailed project and contingency planning for both the Referendum and GLA elections, which in both instances was based upon initial work completed using the Electoral Commission planning template.
- A review of polling districts and stations was carried out by the Elections Manager throughout autumn 2011 and considered at the General Functions Committee in January 2012 and implemented for the GLA elections.
- The communications campaign for the GLA elections was managed across London by the team at London Elect, however Barnet specifically issued (and posted on its website) a press release on 30 April; a message dedicated purely to encouraging early voting on 3 May (GLA polling day). Please see the following link on the council’s website: http://www.barnet.gov.uk/news/article/67/get_there_early_on_3_may
- Central arrangements were adhered to for the required procurements (most specifically for election printing services) for both the referendum and GLA elections and contracts were put in place via Delegated Powers Reports (DPRs). The DPRs can be viewed by clicking on the links below:
- A review of STRAND was conducted by IS staff who worked on the 2010 elections and hardware changes were implemented ahead of the referendum.
- Others:
- for both
the referendum and the GLA elections, an officer from HR was drafted into the
elections project team to manage staff recruitment for both polling and count
duties
- both the
role of DROs and arrangements for agents meetings were contained within the
project plans for the election events.
Your
Rights
If you are
unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can
request a review within the next 20 working days by writing to the FOI Officer
at: The London Borough of Barnet, North
London Business
Park, Oakleigh Road South, London,
N11 1NP (email foi@barnet.gov.uk).
If, having
exhausted our review procedure, you remain dissatisfied with the handling of
your request or complaint, you will have a right to appeal to the Information
Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (telephone: 0303 123 1113;
website www.ico.gov.uk). There is no charge for making an
appeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment