Parliamentary Parties Panel minutes: 6 September 2016

The minutes from 23/02/2016 were agreed. It was noted that the meeting that had been scheduled for 5 July 2016 did not take place. 

MC asked about the Commission’s Strategic Review. AS replied that the findings of the review will go to the Commission’s Board in October and the findings will be part of the Corporate Plan to be published next year.  

AS informed the group that reports on the May polls were being published this week and that the Commission had found the polls had been well run. BP added that a lot of the recommendations made by the Commission were a restatement of previous ones and that they tie in with Law Commission recommendations. AS informed the group that the Cabinet Office had yesterday (05/09/16) published its response to the Commission’s recommendations following the polls in 2015. 

MC enquired what had been the biggest problem at the May polls. AS said that the biggest issue to impact on voters was what happened in Barnet where incomplete registers were printed for use in polling stations. AS remarked that the Commission received its first call from a voter in Barnet about the issue at 07.03 and that Barnet had been quick to respond and get new registers printed and distributed by 10.30. 

AStedman asked if the Commission had assessed what impact this issue had on turnout in Barnet. AS replied that it wasn’t possible to assess the impact on turnout. We know that Barnet had been good at explaining the emergency proxy vote provision made available to voters that had been wrongly turned away and that people were able to return with their poll card to vote. What the Commission doesn’t know is how many voters had been affected by the issue. 

MC said that the Commission had made some recommendations about the polls scheduled to take place in 2020 but wanted to know about the polls scheduled in 2017 and when guidance would be made available. AS confirmed that the PPP would receive information about candidates and agents guidance for the 2017 polls next week.

AS informed the group that the report would be published next week. BP added that it would refer to Section 125 and make recommendations in that area. CW added that on the same day, the Commission would publish an evaluation of its public awareness campaign activities to drive registrations at both the May polls and the EU Referendum. 

AStedman asked if it would contain information on new registrations. CW confirmed that it would. CM asked if it would mention the extension to the registration deadline. AS said that the Commission had expected the extended registration deadline at the EU Referendum to include Northern Ireland but it was the UK Government’s decision not to do that. SM asked about overseas voters. AS referred to the challenge within the existing timetable for getting postal votes out to overseas voters with sufficient time for them to be returned and that if franchise changes for overseas voters were introduced, the UK Government would need to consider the electoral timetable. 

DA noted the impact TV debates have on driving registration and whether it was possible for TV debates to be planned earlier. AS remarked that the nature of these debates tended to mean they take place close to the registration deadline. 
 
MC referred to the up-coming Boundary Review and registrations since the 1 December 2015. AS commented that the Commission has said that using 1 December registers for boundary reviews meant that registers that were most accurate and complete were not used. 

SM asked if there will be a process for the new Chair of the Commission to meet the parties including the members of the PPP. BP confirmed that a meeting would be included in the induction programme. 

The group confirmed that they were happy with the proposed dates for meetings in 2017.

AStedman said a common data proposal had been supplied to the Commission’s Tom Hawthorn. AS said that we would help in taking this forward and that the Cabinet Office had a key role to play. 

MC asked about the potential for a single electoral register for the UK. AS said that a piece of work should be undertaken by the UK Government that would enable people to test if they are registered to vote at their current address. SM commented that there was the risk of people ‘fishing’ for information about a person. AS said it was a question about what level of detail a person would be required to input in order to be able check their registration status. 

MC mentioned the issue of anonymous registration. DA commented on the story in Bristol about the difficulties of registering to vote anonymously and whether the Commission was aware of the issue. AS confirmed that the Commission was looking into the issue. 

MC mentioned the publication of Sir Eric Pickles report into electoral fraud. There was a general discussion about the report and its voter ID recommendation. AS said the Commission welcomed the report and was pleased it supported a lot of its previous recommendations, including the need for voter ID. There was discussion about whether this recommendation could be a ‘back door for ID cards’. AS explained that Commission proposals had recommended a proportionate approach and had made recommendations for what could be done for those people without photo ID. The group also discussed how the system works in Northern Ireland where voters are required to show ID. 

MC referred to the Commission’s guidance notes. Both MC and DA said it would be helpful if they were indexed and in one place. AS said that the Commission was in the process of implementing a change to its structure so that there would be one overall Guidance team. As part of this change, the new overall Head of Guidance would meet with the group to hear their experiences of using Commission guidance. This change was still only in its early stages. 

AStedman said a short term improvement would be to hyperlink to straight to forms which the group concurred would be a good idea. MC asked about ways to share best practice. MC said a roundtable discussion would be useful to discuss these guidance issues and also that it would be useful to have a joint Commission – Information Commissioner’s Office meeting to discuss issues around the use of the electoral register. Action: Commission to organise. 

AS noted that he would be stepping down from his role at the end of the year. The group commented that it would be useful to have an organisational structure. Action: Commission to send organisational structure.

SM mentioned it would be useful to have publication dates. Action: Commission to send through publication dates noting that dates are subject to change. 

The next PPP meeting will take place on Tuesday 6 December at 11am – Liberal Democrats to chair. 

Actions from September 2016 PPP meeting