Click here to find guidance to help Returning Officers to deliver well-run elections >
Latest newsDecember 2011: Revised performance standards for Returning Officers in Great BritainFollowing consultation, we have published a set of revised performance standards for Returning Officers in Great Britain. You can view the finalised standards and our response to the consultation below:
We have also produced guidance to support Returning Officers in meeting the standards. This guidance forms part of our best practice guidance for Returning Officers on planning for and administering the scheduled 2012 elections, which can be found on our resources for electoral administrators webpage. In addition, we have published a timetable of when Returning Officers will be required to report on their performance against the standards for the May 2012 polls and the monitoring returns they will be required to submit: |
Background and performance standards framework
Background
In April 2008 we issued a baseline performance survey (XLS) which outlined nine initial performance information collection areas for all Returning Officers who held local government and Greater London Authority elections in May 2008.
This survey was then used to inform our draft performance standards for Returning Officers, which we published in a consultation paper in September 2008.
The consultation paper outlined draft performance standards for Returning Officers and sought views and comments on both the overall set of performance standards and the definition and format of individual standards. You can view the response to the consultation and the finalised standards below:
- Response to 2008 consultation on performance standards for Returning Officers (PDF)
- Performance standards for Returning Officers (PDF)
- Performance standards for Returning Officers - Welsh version (PDF).
Revised performance standards
On 5 September 2011 we published a consultation paper on a set of revised performance standards for Returning Officers in Great Britain:
- Draft performance standards for Returning Officers in Great Britain (2011 consultation paper) (PDF)
- Draft performance standards for Returning Officers in Great Britain (2011 consultation paper) (PDF) (Welsh version)
The consultation paper outlines a revised set of draft performance standards for Returning Officers and seeks views and comments on both the overall set of performance standards and on the approach to monitoring and reporting on the performance of Returning Officers. The deadline for responses to this consultation was Friday 14 October 2011.
We published the full performance standards for Returning Officers in December 2011.
Previous reports and data
2010On 15 March 2010 we asked all (Acting) Returning Officers ((A)ROs) at the UK general election to report against the performance standards for Returning Officers. The performance assessment (XLS) was to be completed and returned by 28 May 2010. Read the analysis below:
- Report on (A)RO performance against standards following 2010 UK general election (PDF)
- 2010 UK general election: (A)RO performance by local authority (XLS)
- (A)RO narrative submitted in support of 2010 UK general election assessment (XLS)
