Board minutes: 25 June 2024

The Board Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. There were no new declarations of interest. The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee’s independent member, Paul Redfern, had sent apologies.

The Chair extended the Board’s thanks to both Louise Edwards, Director of Regulation and Digital Transformation and Craig Westwood, Director of Communications, Policy and Research who were attending their last board meetings before departing the organisation. The Board commended Louise and Craig for their commitment and contributions to the Electoral Commission and congratulated them on their new appointments.

On the preparations for the UK parliamentary general election to be held on 4 July, the Chief Executive reported on the scaling up of support for the election day itself. Monitoring underway covered:

• security
• mis- and dis information flows
• arrangements for support for independent observers at polls UK-wide
• workloads for Returning Officers
• how well the electoral system overall was operating, with some concerns in Northern Ireland and Scotland due to the election overlapping with holidays
• the level of concerns about people not being about to return their postal votes before the holidays and relating to overseas voters. 2 million postal votes had already been returned. As comparison, in 2019 there had been 8 million people registered to vote by post, from whom 6.2m votes had been returned
• manifesto analysis indicated post-election scope for work on parliamentary standards.

There was Commissioner awareness of the need for police support for candidates on security, and interest in following up on the data on candidate abuse.

The Commissioner for Northern Ireland proposed pushing forwards post-election with aligning Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK for dates for proxy and postal votes.

The post-poll reporting plans were for the Commission to publish an initial analysis of voter ID, similar to that published in 2023, around mid-September. The proposal was that this would be followed by the publication of a full report on the UKPGE later in the autumn. The full report would consider the experience of voters, campaigners and electoral administrators. Spending reporting would be published by end of March 2025. Post-poll reporting could review the overall cost of running two elections in close proximity in 2024 and its implications for maximising participation across the UK.

The Chief Executive also reported on progress on corporate matters including recruitment. Work continued to enable the organisation to submit the Corporate Plan resource implications for 2025/26 to the Scottish Parliament and Senedd in September. Reconfiguration of the Bunhill Row office to accommodate the Local Government Boundary Commission was making good progress.

Resolved: That the Board noted the Chief Executive’s update and post-poll reporting plans.
 

The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC)’s Chair reported on its 24 June meeting at which members had heard that that positive progress was being made on the organisation receiving the NAO’s unqualified audit opinions on the organisation’s accounts, subject to fulfilment of procedures outlined to resolve final technical detail. ARAC had been content with the delegations recommended for agreeing the final document to be laid before parliaments. ARAC had also been made aware of proposals to advance the strategic risk register.

The Board received and recognised the Internal Audit Opinion 2023/24 presented by RSM to the 10 May ARAC meeting and the depth of work carried out in the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee’s over the last 12-15 months on the areas covered. Positive progress had been made on the learning and development function. Recruitment was being carried out to enhance the procurement and contract management functions with the right capability and ARAC would receive a further report in September. A great deal of work was needed to build the procurement function, and the Chief Executive and Interim Director of Procurement would continue to review the position.

The Board received NAO’s preliminary audit completion report. Technical queries outstanding were being finalised, to meet, for example, the new accounting standard for making provisions on dilapidations on recently refurbished premises. Commissioners commended the progress that had been made and sought assurance that there was sufficient capacity in the finance function to address the NAO’s recommendations with respect to areas for further work. The Interim Director of Finance was confident that the right resourcing plan was in place, with recruitment to fill permanent positions underway. ARAC pointed to the strides that had been made since 2022/23, with active preparations being made to lay accounts before parliaments, indicating that ARAC was now receiving information that gave the right visibility.

Resolved: That the Board noted the Internal Audit opinion 2023/24 and the NAO’s preliminary audit completion report.

ARAC members had supported the near final document containing the Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24. A final review of the contents would be carried out to capture the calling of the 4 July election, and to ensure that the document reflected the organisation’s work to create the right environment for the Commission to fufil its purpose to support an effective electoral system.

Resolved: That the Board agreed the near final annual report and accounts 2023/24 and agreed that delegated authority should be given to the Accounting Officer, the Chair of the Commission, and the Chair of ARAC to give final approval at a date to be determined. This was so that the report could be laid in parliaments around 18 July 2024 or the nearest feasible date.

The Statement of Funding Principles established in March 2021 guided the Electoral Commission's funding allocations. As part of the Commission’s commitment to transparency and effectiveness, following several challenges from the Senedd and SPCB during the prior year’s funding bids, the Commission’s application of these principles had been reviewed, to address work distribution, timeframes, collective understanding, population metrics, and independent scrutiny. With effect from 2025/26, the Commission proposed to make apportionment changes to ensure fairer and more accurate resource distribution across the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, and the Senedd. Engagement with all three parliaments was proposed, to take place before the application in 2025/26 budget submissions to the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd in September.

Resolved: That the Board agreed with the approach to the statement of funding principles, to be accompanied by clear and consistent dialogue and engagement with the three parliaments.

The process for the 2025/26 budget had needed to be revised due to the UK parliamentary general election called for 4 July 2024. The revised approach recognised the preparation time needed to make 2025/26 budget submissions to the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd in September. The Chief Executive clarified that opportunities were being created for PCS union representatives to contribute to the preparation process.

Resolved: That the Board noted the note the revised budget preparation timeline and approach.

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee meeting held on 10 June had reflected upon the 20 May event on barriers to candidacy held in Edinburgh. Members had discussed the intention to create a broader objective for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the Corporate Plan, and reviewed progress against the external-facing objectives in the organisation’s EDI action plan.

The Remuneration and Human Resources Committee meeting held on 10 June had received a progress report on the pay review performed by QCG and Dearden HR external consultants, approved a recommendation to agree the pay award remit 2025/26 and reviewed progress against the internal-facing objective in the EDI action plan. People Strategy progress and employee management information was reviewed, with a focus on absence management as an indicator of the health of the organisation.

Resolved: That the Board noted the Committee Chairs’ reports.

The minutes of the Board meeting held on 20 May 2024 were accepted.

To progress board team coaching, it was proposed to bring the three workstreams looking at board development together in July. In readiness, the Board Chair, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Governance would meet with the convenors to look at the progress made.

An electronic resolution to agree the budget for the UKPGE public awareness campaign - ID and registration - had been carried out on 23 May 2024. All Commissioners had been in support of this resolution.
The status of actions which had been requested by the Board was noted.

A consultation would be carried out upon future meeting plans.

Resolved: That the Board noted the governance and procedural matters reports including agreement to the minutes of the meeting held on 20 May.