Agenda item

Trina Barber, the Electoral Services Manager presented a report which updated the Committee on a number of key work streams being undertaken by the Electoral Services Team, in relation to the Registration of Electors and Annual Canvass, since the Committee’s last meeting in November, 2020.  

The report outlined the position at the end of the annual canvass 2020, and provided a breakdown of the postal votes and the electorate by ward as at 1st December, 2020, which were attached to the report at Appendices A and B, respectively. The Electoral Services Manager highlighted that since the publication of the report, there had been some changes to the electoral register, due to some electors had been removed from the register, and the Electoral Services Team were still in the process of contacting those people.

It was noted that since completion of the annual canvass, some Care Homes, including private care homes and multiple occupancy properties, had been added to the Register. The Electoral Services Team had achieved a 93% response return rate from Care Homes and multiple occupancy, which fall under Route 3 of the Canvass.  

The Electoral Services Manager reported that this year was the first time that the canvass had been carried out under the new Reforms. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic no door canvassing took place to chase up returns, however, with telephone canvassing and data matching, an overall response rate of 94.68% had been achieved, which was higher than that in previous years and in line with neighbouring authorities.  

In reporting on completion of the canvass, it was noted that in common with other local authorities, funding support from the Government had reduced from previous years, as it was expected that the Reforms would reduce the cost of the Canvass. However, due to technical issues with the Gov.uk e-mail system more letters had to be posted out than anticipated causing an expected cost.  It was noted that in response to the Cabinet Office, the Electoral Services Manager had submitted a bid to obtain additional funding, and would inform the Committee of the outcome at the next meeting.

Following the presentation of the report, the Electoral Services Manager answered a number of questions from Members on the following issues:-

• In response to a query as to whether the Council had in previous years been successful in receiving additional funding from the Government for the annual canvass and whether the Council would be successful this year, the Electoral Services Manager advised that in the past, Doncaster had been successful in applying for funding.  She explained that the application process was protracted and was heavily scrutinised by the Cabinet Office and hoped that the Council would again be successful this year.

• In reply to a question as to whether the reason for the increase in the response rate from this year’s canvass, was due to people having to stay at home during lockdown, the Electoral Services Manager stated that because the canvass reform had only been introduced this year, it was difficult to say with any certainty, if this was the case.  However, it would be possible to benchmark and compare against next year’s figures.

• Further to questions in relation to capturing people moving into newly built properties to register to vote, the Electoral Services Manager explained that she works closely with the Planning Department regarding any new proposed housing developments in the Borough and was notified when new houses are built. The Electoral Services Team then write to the new homeowner, asking them to complete and return the form to register names on the electoral register. The Electoral Services team also work closely with the Council Tax department as part of this work.

• In reply to a question as to whether the Electoral Services Team would be sending out reminder letters prior to the May election to the 7,500 outstanding properties (harder to reach groups and newly built properties), the Electoral Services Manager confirmed that household notification letters had been sent out to those people who had not responded, informing them of the upcoming election, and asking them to complete a registration form.

• Further to a query, the Electoral Services Manager confirmed that there were a minority of people who did not want their names to be put on the electoral register with varying reasons, but she gave assurances that the Electoral Services Team endeavoured to encourage people to register. She confirmed that for reasons permitted by law, requests were sometimes received from external and internal agencies, to access details on the electoral register, to prevent fraud.  It was noted that failure to register can have an adverse effect on credit ratings.

• In reply to a question regarding how the Electoral Services Team engaged with and kept track of those harder to reach groups who were constantly on the move including the boating and travelling communities, the Electoral Services Manager explained that although they may travel outside of the Doncaster area if they came back to their main residence, they remained on the register.   In relation to empty properties, the Electoral Services Team worked with the Council Tax department to try and establish which properties were empty.

The Committee, in welcoming the report, commended the Electoral Services Manager for an excellent report, and were pleased to observe that Doncaster had achieved a 94.68% response rate in the annual canvass, which compared favourably to that of other neighbouring authorities.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.