European elections

The request was refused by Haringey Borough Council.

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

I would like to know how many EU citizens successfully filled in the UC1
form for the 2019 European elections and became eligible to vote in these
elections.

I note that answers have recently been given to this question by Islington, Kingston Upon Thames, Sutton and Redbridge councils (see link below for an example).

Therefore if you refuse to provide this information I will be appealing immediately, and if necessary I will complain to the Information Commissioner's Office. Given the clear precedent set by these London councils, as well as many other councils around the UK, I would expect them to rule in my favour.

Yours faithfully,

Rob Blackie

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/5...

FOI, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr Blackie,

Freedom of Information Act / Environmental Information Regulations Request ref:
LBH/8857319

 

Thank you for your request for information received on 25 June 2019, in
which you asked for details of how many EU citizens successfully filled in
the UC1 form for the 2019 European elections and became eligible to vote
in these elections.

 

My response is as follows:

 

We are unable to respond to this request for information under the Freedom
of Information Act as the Electoral Registration Officer’s role falls
outside of the legislation.

 

The registration of electors is governed by the Representation of the
People Act 1983 as amended. Under Section 8 of the Act, the council must
appoint an officer of the council to be the registration officer for any
constituency or part of a constituency coterminous with or situated in the
council's area. Any appointment as Electoral Registration Officer is
separate to any other appointment and, although appointed by the council,
the Electoral Registration Officer's responsibilities and duties are
personal. An example of this is that the register of electors is deemed to
be the property of the Electoral Registration Officer, not the local
authority. The Electoral Registration Officer does not carry out the
duties on behalf of the local authority but in his own personal capacity.

The Freedom of Information Act does not list any person appointed under
the Representation of the People Act 1983. It follows that the Electoral
Registration Officer, Returning Officer or any other person appointed
under the Act are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act.

Details of persons and organisations that are entitled to receive free
copies or to be sold copies of the register of electors are governed by
Regulations 97 - 114 of the Representation of the People Regulations 2001,
as amended. We also publish quite a lot of information about electoral
registration on our website, which is available on the following pages:
[1]http://voting.haringey.gov.uk/register-t...

If you are unhappy with how we have responded to your request you can ask
us to conduct an Internal Review. If so, please contact the Feedback and
Information Team as below. (Please note you should do this within two
months of receiving this response.)   

 

Feedback and Information Governance Team

Alexandra House

10 Station Road

London

N22 7TR

E [email address]

 

You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s office, who may be
able to help you.  However they would normally expect the local authority
to have undertaken a complaint investigation or Internal Review of the
request before they will accept the referral. 

 

You can contact the Commissioner at:

 

Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire 

SK9 5AF

E [2][email address]

W [3]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Claire Gunn

Feedback Review Officer

Corporate and Customer Services

 

Haringey Council

5th Floor, Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London N22 7TR

 

[4]www.haringey.gov.uk

[5]twitter@haringeycouncil

[6]facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

 

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Dear Haringey Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Haringey Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'European elections'.

As I mentioned in my request earlier on today, this information has now been provided by five London boroughs. No borough has refused this request.

This information clearly falls under the scope of the Freedom of Information law - and all of these five boroughs have judged that to be the case.

I am asking for extremely limited information - simply a count of the number of people who returned a form. This is extremely simple to provide - in any database system it would be the work of a couple of minutes.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

Yours faithfully,

Rob Blackie

Clay Lesley, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr Blackie,

 

Internal Review of the Freedom of Information Act request reference
LBH/8857319

 

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to review the response we have sent
to your Freedom of Information request, in which you asked:  

 

How many EU citizens successfully filled in the UC1 form for the 2019
European elections and became eligible to vote in these elections.

 

Our original response explained that:   We are unable to respond to this
request for information under the Freedom of Information Act as the
Electoral Registration Officer’s role falls outside of the legislation.   

 

I have now reviewed your request and maintain our original position, that
is that we will not be treating this as a request for information under
the Freedom of Information Act.

 

The registration of electors is governed by the Representation of the
People Act 1983 as amended. Under Section 8 of the Act, the council must
appoint an officer of the council to be the registration officer for any
constituency or part of a constituency coterminous with or situated in the
council's area. Any appointment as Electoral Registration Officer is
separate to any other appointment and, although appointed by the council,
the Electoral Registration Officer's responsibilities and duties are
personal. An example of this is that the register of electors is deemed to
be the property of the Electoral Registration Officer, not the local
authority. The Electoral Registration Officer does not carry out the
duties on behalf of the local authority but in his own personal capacity.

The Freedom of Information Act does not list any person appointed under
the Representation of the People Act 1983. It follows that the Electoral
Registration Officer, Returning Officer or any other person appointed
under the Act are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act.
Details of persons and organisations that are entitled to receive free
copies or to be sold copies of the register of electors are governed by
Regulations 97 - 114 of the Representation of the People Regulations 2001,
as amended. We also publish quite a lot of information about electoral
registration on our website, which is available on the following pages:
http://voting.haringey.gov.uk/register-t...

 

However, the Deputy Returning officer has stated that if you contact him
directly he may be able to assist, outside of the FOI Act provisions. His
contact details are Mr George Cooper, Tel 020 8489 2976.

 

I realise this may not be the response you were hoping for. If you are
dissatisfied, you may complain to the Information Commissioner, who may be
able to help you.  Please note that if you wish to refer this case to the
Information Commissioner, they normally ask that you do so within two
months of our response to you.

 

You can contact the Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[1][email address]

[2]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

Regards

 

Lesley Clay

Feedback Review Officer

 

Corporate & Customer Services

 

Haringey Council

5th Floor, Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London N22 7TR

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO NOT WORK MONDAY, TUESDAY AND HALF DAY WEDNESDAY.

 

T. 020 8489 1988

 

[email address]

 

[3]www.haringey.gov.uk

[4]twitter@haringeycouncil

[5]facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

 

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