Board minutes: 23 May 2023
Date and location
Tuesday, 23 May 2023, 9.30am
Bunhill Row, London, and by Video conference
Who was at the meeting
John Pullinger Chair
Rob Vincent
Alex Attwood
Sarah Chambers
Roseanna Cunningham
Chris Ruane
Katy Radford
Sue Bruce
Elan Closs Stephens
Stephen Gilbert
In attendance:
Shaun McNally Chief Executive
Craig Westwood Director, Communications, Policy and Research
Ailsa Irvine Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance
Louise Edwards Director, Regulation and Digital Transformation
Binnie Goh General Counsel
David Moran Interim Director, Finance
Sal Naseem Independent Adviser to the Commission Board on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)
Matt Pledger Senior Adviser, Governance
Zena Khan Senior Adviser, Governance
Laura Douglas Head of Regulatory Support [item 1]
Denise Bottom Regulatory Support Manager [item 1]
Natalie Mauchline Senior Regulatory Support Adviser, Advice Service [item 1]
Harry Wells Regulatory Support Adviser [item 1)
Bola Raji Interim Head of Planning and Performance [item 6]
Katy Knock Head of Legislation Strategy and Coordination
[item 7]
Michela Palese Policy Manager [item 7]
Tom Hawthorn Head of Policy [item 7]
Chris Chie Policy Adviser [item 7]
Rachel Stephenson Policy Adviser [item 7]
Niki Nixon Head of External Communications [item 7]
Orla Hennessy Media Relations & Communications Manager
[item 8]
Welcomes and apologies, followed by an introduction to the Regulatory Support Team Advice Service
The Board welcomed the Regulatory Support Team, Advice Service members, who provided an overview of their work. The Board was impressed by the levels of advice and support provided and by recent improvements to achievement of new, more challenging Key Performance Indicators.
The Board thanked the team for their time and update.
Declarations of Interests
Resolved: The Board noted that there were no updated declarations of interests since the April 2023 Board meeting.
Minutes (EC 196/23)
Resolved: That the Board agreed the minutes of the Board meeting of 25 April 2023.
Commission Board action tracker (EC 197/23)
The Board requested that the action tracker provide greater detail regarding the range of open items.
Resolved: That the Board noted the progress against actions.
Forward Plan of Board business 2023/24 (EC 198/23)
The Board noted that some of the Board meetings had been extended to accommodate the strategic objective discussions.
Resolved: That the Board noted the Forward Plan of Board business for 2023/24
Chief Executive’s update (EC 199/23)
The Chief Executive introduced his update noting thanks to the Director, Communications, Policy and Research, the Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance, the Director, Regulation and Digital Transformation and their teams for their work in relation to the May 2023 polls.
The Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance reported that work was continuing to review draft secondary legislation setting out the detail of the subsequent tranches of changes arising from the Elections Act 2022. The Board noted that the forthcoming changes are complex and technical, and that work is underway to translate the detail into practical guidance and processes The Board noted the main concerns amongst the electoral administration community relate to the volume of changes to come, and the effect this will have on their already stretched capacity.
The Director, Regulation and Digital Transformation updated the Board that a response had been received to letters sent to the Security and Elections Ministers regarding additional safeguards to the donation regime for political parties, and the National Security Bill. The Elections Minister had replied that she does not regard the safeguards as required. The Commission will now consider how to establish a wider consensus for reform among key stakeholders.
The Board noted the Quarter four 2022/23 Finance and Performance Report.
Resolved: That the Board noted the update on operations and matters arising including an update on the Elections Act 2022 implementation and Quarter four 2022/23 Finance and Performance Report.
May 2023 elections reporting (EC 200/23)
The Board noted Commissioners’ reflections on their observations on polling day in England and Northern Ireland.
The Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance, provided an overview of initial high-level reflections on the elections, highlighting that while the polls had been well-run there had been a number of administrative challenges, with staffing and supplier resilience and capacity once again being common themes.
The Board noted the presentation of initial data on the implementation of voter ID at the May 2023 polls in England, which will form the basis of the interim analysis to be published in June. It was also updated on plans for both interim and final post-poll reporting – in June and September, respectively – as well as the communications activity that would support these reports.
Resolved: The Board noted the update on the May 2023 elections and agreed the approach to publishing an interim analysis of voter ID data.
Draft Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23 (EC 201/23)
The Chief Executive introduced the draft Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23 and invited comments from members of the Board. The Board noted that the deadline for feedback and comments was 2 June 2023, with the final report coming back for approval at the June 2023 Board meeting.
The Board noted that readers of the report may find a framing statement useful to understand how the Commission operates as a UK body, given the separate formal reporting requirements which apply to the annual reports themselves.
The Interim Director, Finance reported to the Board that the closure of the annual accounts for 2022/23 had been delayed by at least two weeks, primarily as a result of reconciliation issues with the new accounting system. The Board noted that most of the issues were resolved, but the delay will affect the external audit by the National Audit Office, (NAO), and there was a risk that the audit may not be completed in the allotted time.
Resolved: That the Board reviewed a first draft of the Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23 and noted the timetable for comments.