To be an independent and respected centre of expertise, using knowledge and insight to further the transparency, fairness and efficiency of our democratic system, and help adapt it to the modern, digital age.

This area of work focuses on innovation and strengthening our evidence base. Our expertise in policy, research and communications are core to enabling this work.

Key achievements

To share our independent and expert advice on our democratic system, we:

  • deployed a public awareness campaign to support understanding of online advertising techniques, in conjunction with regulatory partners
  • published our annual survey of public opinion, which found public confidence in the running of elections at a record high
  • provided detailed analysis of the UK Government’s Elections Bill, including feedback to Cabinet Office, briefings to parliamentarians, oral evidence to parliamentary committees, meetings with the Minister, and content for our website
  • provided analysis to parliamentarians in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the impact of measures in the Elections Bill, and briefings to the Scottish and Welsh governments, particularly in relation to their consideration of requests for legislative consent
  • responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation on election rules for local government elections in May 2022, and shared thinking and evaluation plans for the pilots they intend to run
  • extended our engagement with educators and published more learning resources for young people, and those that work with them, to promote political literacy and understanding of democratic processes
  • provided evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament on our work, and published our views on the findings of the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s report on political finance 
  • published the findings of qualitative research on modernising elections, looking at public attitudes to voting and the information available around elections 

Performance measures

Measure Performance
We publish 100% of our reports to planned deadlines 100 %
Achieved
We comment on 100% of relevant legislation and policy proposals 100 %
Achieved
Work in support of the electoral law reform recommendations from the England and Wales, Scotland and the Northern Ireland Law Commissions Ongoing

Our activities during the year

Providing independent and expert advice

We published three reports on the May 2021 elections, the most complex set of polls in recent years, with the additional challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic. We found that the changes put in place by the UK’s governments, electoral administrators and by us helped to support and reassure voters and campaigners. Our reports described the continued concerns about the resilience and capacity of local electoral services teams across Great Britain. In response, we highlighted our plans to work in partnership with the electoral community, including Government and local authorities, to help build more resilience for the future. 

The UK Government’s Elections Bill has been a significant focal point of our work over the last year. As well as working closely to support officials on developing the legislation, we gave evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, and the Public Bill Committee, on the Bill as a whole or particular aspects. We also provided briefings to parliamentarians across Great Britain about key considerations and potential impacts, including before key parliamentary debates. 
We provided evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament on our work, and briefed selected peers ahead of Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill Second Reading in Lords. 

We published findings from a new research study looking at the public’s needs and expectations about the voting process and the information they receive about voting. This research is part of a wider project looking at the future of voting, and we will use it to develop recommendations to the UK’s governments about how the electoral system can continue to support participation in the democratic process.

We continued to expand our engagement with educators to promote political literacy and understanding of democratic processes, publishing more learning resources for young people and those that work with them. This included form-time activities, lesson plans and activities for assemblies, for use in secondary schools in Great Britain.

Acting on analytics and feedback from user testing, we continued to develop our website functionality and content. We deployed new search functionality and restructured guidance content on our website for electoral administrators, political parties and campaigners.