Request for copies of returns of electoral expenses and donations by mayoral candidates—whether the returns constituted ‘official information’ for the purposes of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987—whether an electoral officer under the Local Electoral Act is an officer, employee or member of a local authority—requested information was not official information—Local Electoral Act 2001, ss 12, 14, and 109
Section 109 of the Local Electoral Act 2001 provides that within 55 days after the successful candidates at any election are declared to be elected, every candidate at the election must transmit to the electoral officer a return which sets out the candidate’s electoral expenses, the name and address of each person who made an electoral donation to the candidate and the amount of each electoral donation.
The requester sought copies of the returns prepared by mayoral candidates. In order to decide whether the information sought was ‘official information’ in terms of the LGOIMA, it was necessary to determine whether the electoral officer was subject to that Act. Section 12 of the Local Electoral Act provides that there must at all times be an electoral officer appointed by a local authority. However, there is no requirement for the electoral officer to be an officer, employee or member of the local authority and an electoral officer is not accountable to the local authority for the performance of his or her duties. Section 14(1) of the Local Electoral Act provides as follows:
(1) An electoral officer, deputy electoral officer, or other electoral official is not subject to directions of any local authority or community board in the exercise of powers or the carrying out of duties under this Act or regulations made under this Act.
An electoral officer is not therefore acting in the capacity of officer, employee or member of a local authority whilst performing his or her duties, but is a statutory officer in his or her own right. Electoral officers are not listed in the schedules to the Ombudsmen Act 1975 or the LGOIMA. Accordingly, they do not come within an Ombudsman’s jurisdiction under either Act and the information requested was not ‘official information’ for the purposes of LGOIMA.
This case note is published under the authority of the Ombudsmen Rules 1989 opens page in this tab. It sets out an Ombudsman’s view on the facts of a particular case. It should not be taken as establishing any legal precedent that would bind an Ombudsman in future.