I refer to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In relation to the function of registering electors, the registration of electors is governed by the Representation of the People Act 1983 as amended. Under Section 8 of the Act, the council must appoint an officer of the council to be the registration officer for any constituency coterminous with or situated in the council’s area. Mari Roberts-Wood is the appointed Electoral Registration Officer for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. The appointment as Electoral Registration Officer is a separate appointment. Although appointed by the Council, the Electoral Registration Officer’s responsibilities and duties are personal. An example of this is that the register of electors is deemed to be the property of the Electoral Registration Officer, not the local authority.

The Electoral Registration Officer does not carry out the duties on behalf of the local authority but in their own personal capacity. A list of public bodies and local authorities that are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act is included in Schedule 1 to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A list of public bodies that are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act is available at the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/organisations-you-can-ask-for-information

As you will see, the Freedom of Information Act does not list any person appointed under the Representation of the People Act 1983. The Electoral Registration Officer is not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

As such, the Council is not obliged to respond to this request.

This completes the council's response to your information request.

Your right to complain.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to: information.officer@reigate-banstead.gov.uk

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or through their website at https://ico.org.uk/.

Disclaimer:

This information is supplied for your personal use only. Providing you with documents under the Freedom of Information Act does not give you an automatic right to re-use those documents in a way that would infringe copyright - for example by making multiple copies, or by publishing, or issuing copies to the public.

Copyright in the information is owned by Reigate and Banstead Borough Council and, or its contractor(s) unless otherwise stated. Brief extracts of the material can be reproduced under the "fair dealing" provisions of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 (S.29 and S.30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting.

We do not give permission for this information to be used for the purposes of direct marketing.

If you wish to use this information for commercial purposes then, in accordance with the Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 2005, you must first ask our permission. Such re-use may or may not involve the granting of a licence and the application of a Fee.

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