The Electoral Commission is working with Democracy Club and with local authorities to provide voters with easy access to polling station and candidate information in the lead up to elections, via a central online resource. To facilitate the easy collation of returns from local authorities, Democracy Club provides guidance on providing data in an open format. The Commission has encouraged the voluntary adoption of this preferred approach through its own communications with local authorities, including in its Electoral Administration bulletin, in its Roll Call newsletter and in meetings with local authorities. Recognising that local authorities currently hold this data in a variety of different formats, Democracy Club and the Commission currently prioritise the participation of the local authorities and Democracy Club manage any necessary reformatting of submitted data. The Commission has no current plans to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State in respect of the provision of this information.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-03-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "66389"} , {"_value" : "66390"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-03-08T10:06:42.22Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-03-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Voting Behaviour"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's Electoral Administration Bulletin Issue 173, published in December 2016, what assessment the Commission has made of the potential merits of encouraging the voluntary adoption by (a) local electoral registration officers and (b) the Association of Electoral Administrators, of a standardised uniform format for the supply of information to make it easier for materials to be prepared and web services to be built by political parties and others to encourage electoral participation.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4436", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Cat Smith"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lancaster and Fleetwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Cat Smith"} ], "uin" : "66391"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/707324", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/707324/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission is working with Democracy Club and with local authorities to provide voters with easy access to polling station and candidate information in the lead up to elections, via a central online resource. To facilitate the easy collation of returns from local authorities, Democracy Club provides guidance on providing data in an open format. The Commission has encouraged the voluntary adoption of this preferred approach through its own communications with local authorities, including in its Electoral Administration bulletin, in its Roll Call newsletter and in meetings with local authorities. Recognising that local authorities currently hold this data in a variety of different formats, Democracy Club and the Commission currently prioritise the participation of the local authorities and Democracy Club manage any necessary reformatting of submitted data. The Commission has no current plans to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State in respect of the provision of this information.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-03-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "66389"} , {"_value" : "66391"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-03-08T10:06:42.157Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-03-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Voting Behaviour"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's Electoral Administration Bulletin Issue 173, published in December 2016, whether the Commission plans to advise the Secretary of State to issue a direction under section 52 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 to require local electoral registration officers to make such information available in an easy-to-reuse format which includes as much geographic information as possible to make it easier for materials to be prepared and web services to be built to encourage electoral participation.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4436", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Cat Smith"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lancaster and Fleetwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Cat Smith"} ], "uin" : "66390"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/707325", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/707325/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission is working with Democracy Club and with local authorities to provide voters with easy access to polling station and candidate information in the lead up to elections, via a central online resource. To facilitate the easy collation of returns from local authorities, Democracy Club provides guidance on providing data in an open format. The Commission has encouraged the voluntary adoption of this preferred approach through its own communications with local authorities, including in its Electoral Administration bulletin, in its Roll Call newsletter and in meetings with local authorities. Recognising that local authorities currently hold this data in a variety of different formats, Democracy Club and the Commission currently prioritise the participation of the local authorities and Democracy Club manage any necessary reformatting of submitted data. The Commission has no current plans to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State in respect of the provision of this information.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-03-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "66390"} , {"_value" : "66391"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-03-08T10:06:42.08Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-03-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Voting Behaviour"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's Electoral Administration Bulletin Issue 173, published in December 2016, what further steps the Commission has taken to encourage (a) local electoral registration officers and (b) the Association of Electoral Administrators, to make information available in a format which includes as much geographic information as possible, to make it easier for materials to be prepared and web services to be built to encourage electoral participation.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4436", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Cat Smith"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lancaster and Fleetwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Cat Smith"} ], "uin" : "66389"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/694271", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/694271/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
As part of its work to encourage people to register to vote, the Electoral Commission runs multi-media advertising campaigns before electoral events. Its most recent campaign led up to the voter registration deadline ahead of the Northern Ireland Assembly election scheduled for Thursday 2 March.<\/p>
Online advertising is one of several channels used by the Commission and includes a number of elements, including \u2018display\u2019 advertising, whereby the Commission\u2019s voter registration advertising appears on a wide range of websites, including various news media outlets, which voters are likely to visit for information on elections or about political interests. In order to achieve a breadth of coverage, the Commission often use the Google Display Network (GDN) which is a system run by Google that enables advertisers to place online banner ads across a wide range of news, blogs and other websites, and is a commonly used method for publicly-funded campaigns. They brief media buying agencies to purchase space on the GDN based on the audiences they want to reach. The algorithms that sit behind the GDN will automatically identify the most appropriate websites for ads to appear on, based on the audience visiting those sites. This is a cost-effective way to purchase advertising space and to ensure that a diversity of voters see messages multiple times \u2013 ads for the campaign in Northern Ireland appeared on more than 5,000 websites.<\/p>
Historical data on individual website spending for all previous campaigns within the last three years is not held by the Commission. However, the Commission can confirm that as part of the recent campaign in Northern Ireland, the Commission\u2019s spend relating to Breitbart News totals £19.51. This equates to 0.7% of the Commission\u2019s overall advertising spend with the GDN in that campaign, and a total media budget for the campaign of £140,000 which included TV, press, billboard, radio and social media advertising.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-03-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-03-01T17:38:39.643Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-02-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Electoral Commission: Advertising"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the Commission's policy is on online advertising; and how much was spent on online advertising with (a) Breitbart News and (b) each other outlet in each of the last three years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4264", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Stephen Doughty"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Cardiff South and Penarth"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Stephen Doughty"} ], "uin" : "65501"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/690458", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/690458/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission continually monitors technological developments in order to provide the best possible service to voters. When the Commission started to explore the possibility of providing polling station locations on its website, Democracy Club had already done a lot of work in this area and had already amassed significant expertise on how best to collate and provide this data. The Commission took the view that it would represent better value for money for the taxpayer to work with and further support Democracy Club rather than restart the work they had already commenced.<\/p>
Items that are discussed at the Commission Board are formally minuted and these are placed on the Commission\u2019s website. The decision to work with Democracy Club was not made at Board level, but by a member of the Commission\u2019s executive team as a matter of ongoing business. The decision was not minuted.<\/p>
The Commission continues to work with Democracy Club ahead of the polls in May 2017. It is taking an active role in encouraging local authorities to provide their data to Democracy Club so that as many voters as possible can benefit from the service.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-02-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-02-21T17:55:35.867Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-02-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Polling Stations: Internet"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's Electoral Administration Bulletin Issue 173, published in December 2016, for what reasons the Commission does not provide an online polling station finder service directly; and if the Commission will publish the minutes of meetings held which resulted in the decision not to collate that information internally.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4436", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Cat Smith"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lancaster and Fleetwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Cat Smith"} ], "uin" : "64335"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/690459", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/690459/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission has had no discussions with the Minister on the issue of providing online polling station information to political parties. The Commission has briefed the Minister for the Constitution about its partnership with Democracy Club; the Minister is supportive of the initiative, as noted in his recent speech to the conference of the Association of Electoral Administrators on 6 February 2017.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-02-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-02-21T17:56:15.517Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-02-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Polling Stations: Internet"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the Electoral Commission's Electoral Administration Bulletin Issue 173, published in December 2016, what discussions the Commission has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on providing Democracy Club's online polling station information to political parties in a usable format.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4436", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Cat Smith"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Lancaster and Fleetwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Cat Smith"} ], "uin" : "64336"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/685581", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/685581/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission\u2019s total pay bill for 2015-16 was £7.8 million.<\/p>
The Commission does not have the total pay bill analysed by gender for 2015-16 and the number of male and female employees varied throughout the year. However, at 31 March 2016, the Commission employed 64.1 full-time equivalent male staff and 78.6 full-time equivalent female staff. For that month, March 2016, the average per capita spend for women was £38,247and the average per capital spend for men was £41,225.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-02-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-02-16T12:23:29.867Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-02-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Electoral Commission: Pay"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the total pay bill was for (a) male and (b) female employees in the Electoral Commission in 2015-16; and what the average per capita spend from that pay bill was for men and women in that year.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/410", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jon Trickett"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hemsworth"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Jon Trickett"} ], "uin" : "63138"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/685582", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/685582/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission leases four access controlled offices \u2013 in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast \u2013 none of which are located in civil service buildings. All Electoral Commission members of staff \u2013 including fixed contract and temporary or agency staff \u2013 are issued with security passes for the office that they are based in.<\/p>
a) Numbers of passes issued fluctuate over the year. Passes are only issued to staff and contractors who need to be in an office for a sustained period to carry out their work for the Electoral Commission. Guests are collected from a reception desk and escorted out of an Electoral Commission office by a member of staff.<\/p>
b) The Electoral Commission is a non-Crown body which means there are no civil servants who work in the Electoral Commission.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4046", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bridget Phillipson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Houghton and Sunderland South"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Bridget Phillipson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-02-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-02-16T12:24:05.583Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "36"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-02-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Electoral Commission: Security"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many security passes into the Electoral Commission are issued to people (a) not directly employed by and (b) who are not civil servants who work in the Electoral Commission.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/410", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jon Trickett"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hemsworth"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Jon Trickett"} ], "uin" : "63280"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/683445", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/683445/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Electoral Commission\u2019s Executive Team, including the Chief Executive, is made up of five members and an additional Programme Director, of which:<\/p>
(a) 6 are White British
(b) 4 are female, 2 are male
(c) None have declared a disability
(d) 3 were educated to graduate level, 3 to postgraduate level.<\/p>