FI14526
Request
Please can you confirm the following: Mr Aziz receives around £8k for every election as his role returning officer, this is on top of his salary which isn’t declared as a DDC salary. So he gets paid twice for working on any election, ie local, county, crime commissioner and general.
Response
Under the Representation of the People Act 1983 as amended, the Council must appoint an officer of the Council to be the Returning Officer for any constituency or part of a constituency coterminous with or situated in the council’s area. Nadeem Aziz is the appointed officer for the registration area of Dover District. His appointment as Returning Officer (RO) and as Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is separate to his appointment as Chief Executive and, although appointed by the Council, both the Electoral Registration Officer and the Returning Officer’s responsibilities and duties are personal and as such he is not responsible to the local authority but is directly accountable to the courts as an independent statutory office holder. 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 and the Returning Officer do not carry out the duties on behalf of the local authority but in their own personal capacity as independent statutory office holders. A list of public bodies and local authorities that are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act is available at the following website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guidance-index/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/public-authorities-under-foia/.
As you will see, the Freedom of Information Act does not list any person appointed under the Representation of the People Act 1983. It follows that the Electoral Registration Officer, Returning Officer or any other person appointed under the Act are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Although there is no statutory obligation to provide this information, it is worth noting that a local authority does not set the rates of pay for its Returning Officer; pay is based upon electorate numbers and circumstances of the area and the rate is currently set by DLUHC.