GLRO16-29 Electrical Services at the Elections Count Centres

1.1. The elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly took place on 5 May 2016.

1.2. There are rules on election spending by candidates at GLA elections and rules on the donations they receive towards their campaigning. The Electoral Commission monitors and provides advice to ensure candidates and their agents comply with these rules

1.3. The role of the GLRO is to ensure that the documents candidates and their agents have to submit are retained appropriately and are available for public inspection.

2.1. The agent for a Mayor of London candidate or an individual London-wide Assembly candidate must submit a spending and donations return together with any accompanying documents, such as relevant invoices and receipts within 70 calendar days of the date the election result is declared.

2.2. The declaration must be in the form set out in the election rules or in a form to like effect.

2.3. Within 10 days of the deadline for candidates to submit their spending returns, the GLRO must publish in at least two newspapers circulating in Greater London a notice of the time and place at which the returns, declarations and accompanying documents can be inspected.

2.4. The GLRO must also retain a copy of each spending return, declaration, and any accompanying documents, for a period of two years from the date on which it is received. During that period, the GLRO must make copies available for public inspection without charge at City Hall and also provide copies of the returns, declarations or any accompanying documents on request. The fee for a copy of any return, declaration or document is 20p for each side of each page.

2.5. At the end of the two year period, if the candidate or the election agent requests them, the returns, declarations and accompanying documents must be returned to the candidate; otherwise they are destroyed.

2.6. This decision is therefore required in order to comply with the requirements of the Electoral Commission.

4.1. The notice is being published in two newspapers circulating in Greater London, as well as being published on the London Elects website.

Key risks and issues

3.1. The GLRO is required to publish the inspection notice within 10 days of the deadline for candidates to submit their spending returns and will be in breach of EC guidance if it fails to do so.

5.1 The expenditure of up to £21,000 will be funded from the existing 2016/17 Election budget.

6.1. By section 29 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 the Greater London Returning Officer (“GLRO”) is the person appointed as the proper officer for the purposes of section 35(2C) Representation of the People Act 1983 (“RotPA”) (returning officer at elections of Mayor and London members). The Mayor and Assembly have appointed the Head of Paid Service the GLRO as part of his terms and conditions of employment.

6.2. The GLRO is the returning officer for the Mayoral and London Member elections, and constituency returning officers are the returning officers for the election of a Constituency Member of the Assembly. The Authority must, under section 36(4B) of RotPA, pay for all expenditure properly incurred by a returning officer in relation to the holding of an Authority election, in so far as it does not, in cases where there is a scale fixed by the Authority, exceed that scale.

6.3. The Authority’s Scheme of Delegation enables the GLRO to incur expenditure for the purposes of the preparation or conduct of any anticipated election as he considers necessary or expedient for that purpose. He is also able to authorise entry into contracts, licences or other instruments, in connection with an anticipated election in accordance with the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code and Financial Regulations.

6.4. Officers should ensure that appropriate documentation is put in place and executed by the Authority and the supplier before the commencement of the services.