Departmental Conferences

Mr. Graham Stuart
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside the Electoral Commission’s buildings attended by civil servants in the Electoral Commission there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each.

Mr. Streeter
The Electoral Commission informs me that to provide the information in the format requested would incur disproportionate costs. However, its expenditure on conference attendance, annual staff conferences and team development and planning days for the years requested was as follows:

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|Financial year|Expenditure on conference attendance|Annual staff conference|Expenditure on team development and planning days held off site|
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|2005-06       |30,140                              |14,060                 |—                                                              |
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|2006-07       |26,720                              |16,650                 |14,020                                                         |
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|2007-08       |25,330                              |22,020                 |17,770                                                         |
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|2008-09       |30,920                              |5,260                  |18,270                                                         |
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The expenditure on conference attendance typically covers the attendance of Commissioners and Commission staff at the following types of events:

Political Party Conferences

Local political party events

Association of Electoral Administrators conferences

Local Government Association conferences

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) conferences.

The Electoral Commission is independent of Government and its 171 staff members are not civil servants.