Monitoring and enforcing laws on electoral publications

I am currently out of the office. I will be back in the office on Monday, 4 January. In my absence, my inbox will be check for FOI queries only. If you have a query relating to FOI please contact Bola Ojoye [email address] or Elizabeth Morrow [email address]. Any legal queries may be addressed to Louise Footner [email address] or Elizabeth Morrow [email address]

Dear Julian Todd

Our Ref: FOI 106 /09

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act dated 21 December 2009 In your email you have requested all information concerning :

* The duties the Electoral Commission believes it or other bodies
have over monitoring and enforcing laws concerning election
materials.

* Any plans (in action or on the drawing board) by the Electoral
Commission for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing laws
concerning election materials (eg by asking for volunteers to scan
leaflets that have been delivered to their door, and post them on
the web).

* Summary minutes of any meetings by the Executive Team where any
such plans were discussed.

The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.

You may expect to receive a reply sent from the Commission by 21 January 2010 .

Yours sincerely,

Nassime Chida

On behalf of Michelanne Calhoun Wilson

Legal Officer

Tel: 020 7271 0625

Fax: 020 7271 00505

[Electoral Commission request email]

show quoted sections

Dear Julian,

Our Ref: FOI 106 09

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) dated 21 December 2009.

The Commission aims to respond to requests for information within the
statutory timeframe of twenty working days and has done so with this
request.

The Commission does hold information relevant to your request. Please see
your request in bold below followed by our response.

1) The duties the Electoral Commission believes it or other bodies have
over monitoring and enforcing laws concerning election materials.
Please see attached an extract from the Political Parties, Elections and
Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) which sets out the Commission's statutory
function of monitoring compliance with PPERA and with the law on election
expenses incurred by or on behalf of candidates. The Commission considers
that in carrying out this function, we may need to consider the materials
produced by candidates. Reference to this legislative context is also
included in the options paper provided in question 2.
Other bodies have responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of
allegations relating to election materials. For example, the police are
responsible for investigating allegations of electoral malpractice
including imprint issues.
2) Any plans (in action or on the drawing board) by the Electoral
Commission for the purpose of monitoring and enforcing laws concerning
election materials (eg by asking for volunteers to scan leaflets that have
been delivered to their door, and post them on the web).
The Commission has been developing a project in relation to undertaking
campaign monitoring during the forthcoming general election and we are
currently in the process of implementing this project. Please see the
attached options paper which is relevant to this request. The Executive
Team chose to adopt the advanced desk research option (option 3) which was
deemed the most appropriate approach to campaign monitoring for this
election.

This paper went to the Commission's Executive Team to consider and was
discussed at their meeting of 17 December 2009. The Executive Team
consists of the Commission's Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and
Directors.

3) Summary minutes of any meetings by the Executive Team where any such
plans were discussed.

Please see attached the minutes of the Executive Team's 17 December 2009
meeting. The Commission has only provided extracts of the minutes that are
relevant to your request.

I trust that this information satisfies your request. If you are not
satisfied with this response, please note that the Commission operates a
review procedure, details of which can be found on the Commission website
at:
[1]http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab....

Please also note that if you have exhausted all internal Commission review
procedures and you are still not satisfied you have the right to appeal to
the Information Commissioner. Details of this procedure can be found on
the ICO website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,

Bolanle

Bolanle Ojoye
Implementation Officer
The Electoral Commission
Trevelyan House
Great Peter Street
London SW1P 2HW
Tel: 020 7271 0668
Fax: 020 7271 0505
Textphone: 18001 020 7271 0505
[3]www.electoralcommission.org.uk
[4]www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

Democracy matters

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References

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