Date: Wednesday 23 November 2022

Time: 9:30am to 1:00pm

Location: Bunhill Row, London, and by Video conference

Date of next scheduled meeting: Tuesday 17 January 2023

Present

  • John Pullinger Chair
  • Rob Vincent
  • Sue Bruce 
  • Alex Attwood
  • Sarah Chambers
  • Stephen Gilbert
  • Roseanna Cunningham [until item 14]
  • Chris Ruane 
  • Katy Radford
  • Elan Closs Stephens 

In attendance

  • Shaun McNally, Chief Executive
  • Kieran Rix, Director, Finance and Corporate Services 
  • Craig Westwood, Director, Communications, Policy and Research
  • Ailsa Irvine, Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance
  • Louise Edwards, Director, Regulation
  • Binnie Goh, General Counsel
  • Zena Khan, Senior Adviser, Governance
  • Sal Naseem, Independent Adviser to the Commission Board on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)
  • Matt Pledger, Senior Adviser, Governance, observing
  • Helen Fleck, Senior Professionals and Systems Regulation Lawyer, [external], observing [items 1-14]
  • Dan Adamson, Head of Monitoring and Performance [items 1 and 9]
  • Josh Dunne, Senior Adviser, Registration [item 1]
  • Freya Flavin, Senior Adviser, Guidance [item 1]
  • Laura Tettmar-Saleh, Lawyer [item 1]
  • Mel Davidson, Head of Support and Improvement [item 8]
  • Lindsey Pack, Senior Adviser, Performance Standards [item 8]
  • Phil Thompson, Head of Research [item 8]
  • David Bailey, Head of Strategic Planning and Performance [item 15]

Welcomes and apologies 

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting, in particular Chris Ruane, who attended his first Board meeting in his capacity as a full Board member.

The Chair also welcomed Matt Pledger, Senior Adviser, Governance, who joined the Commission last week and would be observing the meeting.

The Chair introduced Helen Fleck, Senior Professionals and Systems Regulation Lawyer at the General Pharmaceutical Council, who attended as an observer as part of promoting cross-regulator development and learning.

The Board welcomed the team who joined the meeting to talk about the work on delivering the Elections Act campaigner provisions, noting that today sees the commencement of the first provisions of the Elections Act on the launch of the assets and liabilities report (ALR). This particular provision is one that the Commission had recommended.

The Board thanked the team for their time and updates and welcomed further updates in the future.

Declarations of interests

The Board noted updated declarations of interests from various Commissioners as set out below:

  • Sarah Chambers – Member of the Consumer Advisory Group of the Association of British Insurers
  • Stephen Gilbert: Ceased as Chair of the Digital and Communication Select Committee as of 20 January 2022 Ceased as Member of the Select Committee on the Fraud Act and Digital as of October 2022 
  • Rob Vincent - Member of two of Hospital Board Trusts
  • Roseanna Cunningham – Member of the Scottish National Party (SNP)

The Board noted that declarations would be included in the Commissioners’ register of interests and published onto the Commission’s external website in line with the Commissioners’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes

Resolved: That the minutes of the Board meeting on 18 October 2022 be agreed.

Commission Board action tracker

Resolved: That the Board noted the progress against actions requested by the Board.

Chief Executive’s update including, the performance report quarter two 2022/23

The Chief Executive provided an oral update on operations and matters arising, advising on the various Parliamentary hearings held in recent weeks.

It was noted that the Board meeting in March would be used as a strategic planning session for setting the forward agendas including agreeing priorities within the corporate plan.

The Board noted that the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee (RemCo) met during the week and were presented with an update on the people strategy, noting key milestones for the organisation. RemCo advised that they would  like to meet four times a year, in order to cover a range of business topics coming through for future years and as a way of tracking progress against the People Strategy

It was noted that the Forward Plan of Board and Committee business for 2023/24 would be worked through for Board and Committee meetings from April 2023 onwards, considering our plans and utilising the agenda for upcoming meetings accordingly. Our teams are working on substantial projects right now and it would be important to be realistic.

The Board noted an update on the scheduled Board meeting in February, around travel arrangements, logistics and looking at inviting local stakeholders such as representatives from local parties and community groups. Actions from the previous Board event in October would be circulated to Commissioners for information.

The Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance provided an update covering contingency planning for a Northern Ireland Assembly election, secondary legislation on voter ID and new draft guidance on accessibility. The proposed timings for subsequent tranches of Elections Act changes, including those relating to overseas voters and online absent vote applications, were also highlighted, with the challenges these are likely to present for our implementation activities being noted.

The Director, Communications, Policy and Research provided an update covering preparations for the new public awareness campaign on voter ID, ahead of its launch in January, and in relation to the UK Government’s proposed strategy and policy statement, covering the ongoing consultation, process and preparations for the final agreed statement.

The Director, Regulation provided an update outlining the latest position on the implementation of the campaigner provisions in the Elections Act, including the provisions for party registration and notional spending coming into force later this month, the consultation underway on the digital imprint regime, and a consultation due to open shortly on a code of practice for third party campaigners. There was also an update on innovations in regulatory support, and on digital projects.  

It was noted that an announcement had just come through during the meeting, on    the Judgement from the Supreme Court case on whether a proposed Scottish Independence Referendum Bill related to reserved matters. A note on this judgement would be circulated to Commissioners following this meeting.

The Board received and noted the quarterly finance and performance report quarter two 2022/23.

Resolved: That the Board noted the oral updates on operations and matters arising.

Resolved: That the Board noted the quarterly finance and performance report quarter two 2022/23.

Forward Plan of Board business 2022/23

Resolved: That the Board noted the report.

Supplementary Estimate for 2022/23

The Director, Finance and Corporate Services introduced the report advising the Board on whether to submit a Supplementary Estimate to the Speaker’s Committee.  

It was noted that supplementary estimates had been submitted to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru, to adjust contributions for pay awards and campaigns expenditure.
 
Resolved: That the Board agreed the Accounting Officer’s recommendation not to submit a Supplementary Estimate for the UK Parliament. 

Resolved: That the Board agreed with the virement of funding from Event to Elections Act with the final amount to be determined at year-end by the Accounting Officer.

Returning Officer (RO) and Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) performance standards

The Director, Electoral Administration and Guidance introduced the report setting out new performance standards for Returning Officers (ROs) and updated standards for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), which had been discussed previously with the Board in May and widely consulted on subsequent to that. 

It was noted that the consultation process had been positive and received widespread support for the proposed approach, with broad agreement that the new frameworks will provide a robust basis for the delivery of well-run elections covering the range of RO and ERO functions, support the effective and consistent implementation of legislative changes, and enable transparent reporting on the delivery of elections at a local level and across Great Britain. The different legislative position in Northern Ireland was also noted, with no equivalent power existing for setting, monitoring and reporting on standards.

The Board discussed ensuring we take opportunities to highlight and celebrate best practice and to engage Parliamentarians and support them to use the available data to challenge locally and help drive improvements. The Board also discussed the importance of measuring outputs, including levels of registration.

The Board welcomed the report, thanking the team for the update. 
Resolved: That the Board agreed the new RO and updated ERO performance standards as detailed within the report, to enable them to be laid before the UK, Scottish and Welsh Parliaments in December 2022.

Draft Enforcement Policy review

The Director, Regulation introduced the report, advising the Board on the Commission’s enforcement policy, which is periodically reviewed. 

Resolved: That the Board agreed areas of the policy proposed to amend or expand, noting that a statutory public consultation would follow early in 2023, with formal approval from the Board on the new policy. 

Resolved: That the Board agreed to delegate agreement of the final policy subject to the above, to two or three Commissioners.

Revised Commission Board and Committee meeting dates for 2023/24

Resolved: That the Board agreed the revised Commission Board and Committee meeting dates for 2023/24, incorporating an extra meeting of the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee into their annual meeting cycle.

Update from the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) Chair

The Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee updated the Board on the work of the Committee at its meeting in September. The draft minutes of the meeting would be circulated to members of the Commission Board separately.

Update from the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee (RemCo) Chair

The Chair of the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee updated the Board on the work of the Committee at its meetings in July and November.

The Board noted that progress had been made in relation to the people strategy and the Committee would now be meeting four times a year in order to fulfil its remit.

Annual review of schedule of internal policies and codes

Resolved: That the Board noted the annual review of schedule of internal policies and codes.

Annual declarations of interests

Resolved: That the Board noted the annual declarations of interests for Commissioners, Executive Team and the Independent Advisers to the Audit and Risk Committee and the Commission Board.

Risk appetite workshop

The Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Independent Adviser to this Committee, chaired a session on risk appetite, looking at a revised version of the Commission’s strategic risks.

The Board discussed and provided a steer as to its risk appetite in relation to each of the areas outlined in the paper.  

Resolved: That the Board agreed for a risk register template to be developed, demonstrating the residual risk scores as agreed, and brought back to a future Board meeting.