To All Members of the Strategy Committee

Mr N A Bennett
Mr M P Booth
Dr M R Miller
Mr J J Quinlan
Mr D J Read

Mr N A Ridley
Mr C M Spence
Mr H N Todd
Mrs S M Wigglesworth
Mr L H Young

To All Members of the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) and (Community Services) Committees – FOR INFORMATION

Members are asked to bring with them to the meeting Paper F73 previously circulated.

ITEM

BUSINESS

1

SUBSTITUTES AND APOLOGIES

Any Member attending as an approved substitute to report giving his/her name and the name of the Member being substituted.

To receive apologies for absence.

2

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Members to declare any interests as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

3

MINUTES

To confirm and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 August 2006 as a correct record.

4

PETITIONS

The Head of Corporate Services to report, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 13, the receipt of any petitions submitted to the Chief Executive.

5

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS

The Chairman to answer any questions on matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affect the District and which fall within the terms of reference of the Committee of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No.15.4 (a) and (b).

6

ISSUES ARISING FROM OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEES

None received.

7

RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES

District and Parish/Town Council Elections in 2007 – Postal Voting (Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee Minute No. 34)

The Head of Corporate Services submitted a report (Paper F73) on the ramifications of all-postal voting at future elections. A report on postal voting had been requested by Members prior to the passage of the Electoral Administration Act 2006, which had become law in July and impacted significantly upon the practicalities of running all-postal pilot elections. The report also indicated that the Corporate Plan required the Council to decide whether or not to apply to run a pilot scheme at the elections in 2007 in order to increase voter turn-out and that, of all pilot schemes tried so far, only all-postal voting had substantially affected turn-outs.

The Electoral and Administrative Services Manager provided detailed information and answered Members’ questions. In the ensuing discussion the following were among the points noted:-

• In order for Babergh to be able to run any type of pilot scheme, the Council would need to obtain permission from the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Electoral Commission. Permission would only be granted if it could be shown that the pilot would provide some added value or enhance the knowledge gained from previous pilot projects.

• It was noted that in the 2003 Local Elections turn-out across Suffolk had been as follows:-

• One of the Council’s service priorities was to raise individual and community ambitions and encourage active citizenship.

• Previous pilots had shown that all postal voting improved turn-out. However, it was significantly more expensive than the traditional method and it gave rise to concerns about security – a recent survey had found that only 37% of the electorate believed postal voting to be safe.

• In the 2003 Local Elections the turn-out had been below 25% in Great Cornard North, Great Cornard South, Pinewood, Sudbury North and Sudbury South. It was suggested that the Council might consider running a pilot scheme in which an all postal vote was carried out in these five wards. The estimated cost of such a project was £17,000 and approximately 16,000 electors would be affected.

• It might be argued that a decision to carry out such a pilot scheme would lead to increased publicity for the Local Elections, possibly having a beneficial effect on turn-out throughout the District.

• Paragraph 4.23 of Paper F73 set out measures which could be taken to increase turn-out by means of a publicity and awareness campaign. It was suggested that it might be possible to write to all the electors in a particular area and include a postal voting application form.

RECOMMENDED TO STRATEGY COMMITTEE

(1) That the report on District and Parish/Town Council Elections in 2007 (Postal Voting) set out in Paper F73 be noted and that the following action be taken:-

(a) Officers to contact the Department of Constitutional Affairs to ascertain whether a pilot postal voting system would be possible in the following five wards in Babergh: Great Cornard North; Great Cornard South; Pinewood; Sudbury North; and Sudbury South.

(b) If the Department of Constitutional Affairs indicates that it may consider applications to run all-postal elections in 2007, that a pilot bid be pursued in accordance with the deadlines that will be set by the Department.

(c) If the Department of Constitutional Affairs indicates that it will not be seeking such applications, that the measures set out in paragraph 4.23 of Paper F73 be undertaken, subject to funding being made available, and with particular emphasis on publicising the availability of postal voting in the five selected wards.

……………………………………..

NOTE: The Head of Corporate Services to report that since the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee, further discussions have been undertaken with Officers from the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA).

The view of the Project Board that is developing the prospectus for pilots in 2007, which needs to be ratified by the Minister, is that all-postal voting pilots are very unlikely to gain approval. The requirements relating to postal voting and, specifically, the checks that need to be made when postal votes are returned, mean that all-postal voting is impossible without the personal identifiers (signatures and dates of birth) first being collected for all the electors involved. Otherwise it would mean that Parliament had gone to great lengths to include security checks for postal voters in the Electoral Administration Act only for them to be disapplied as part of a pilot; this is considered to be highly unlikely. Further, if it were decided to attempt to collect those identifiers from, say, all the electors in the 5 wards that were mentioned at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, this would have to be done at the cost of the authority and it would only take one elector to refuse to supply the information because, for example, they preferred to vote in person or did not trust postal voting, to compromise the whole proposal. There can be no compulsion on electors who do not wish to vote by post to provide the information and the DCA, obviously, would not countenance any scheme that might have the effect of disenfranchising anyone who did not wish, for any reason, to supply their signature and date of birth.

For these reasons, therefore, the officials at the DCA believe that no more all-postal electoral pilots are likely to be approved. They hoped to be in a position to provide general advice about the future of such schemes in the prospectus, which it was anticipated would be published before the end of October.

Accordingly, it is recommended:-

That the report on District and Parish/Town Council Elections in 2007 (Postal Voting) set out in Paper F73 be noted, and that the measures set out in paragraph 4.23 of Paper F73 be undertaken, subject to funding being made available, and with particular emphasis on publicising the availability of postal voting in the five selected Wards.

Paper F85 (PDF 212kb)

8

RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM TASK GROUPS/PANELS

(a) CAST

Report by the CAST Programme Board attached.

Paper F86 (PDF 57kb)

(b) E-government Steering Group Update

Report by the E-government Steering Group attached.

Paper F87 (PDF 23kb)

(c) Car Allowances and Leased Cars

Report by the HR Panel attached.

Paper F88 (PDF 15kb)

(d) Implementation of The Employment Equality (AGE) Regulations 2006

Report by the HR Panel attached.

Paper F89 (PDF 14kb)

9

WORKPLAN

Report by the Head of Corporate Services attached.

Paper F90 (PDF 184kb)

10

AUDIT GOVERNANCE REPORT

Report by the Head of Finance attached.

Paper F91 (PDF 28kb)

11

MEMBER CHAMPIONS

Report by the Head of Corporate Services attached.

Paper F92 (PDF 99kb)

12

OFF STREET PARKING PLACES – RURAL VILLAGES AND SMALL CAR PARKS

Report by the Head of Contract and Asset Management attached.

Paper F93 (PDF 13kb)

13

CAPITAL PROGRAMME – NON COMMITTED SCHEMES

Report by the Head of Contract and Asset Management attached.