Dear Sir or Madam,

First, some background.

On 14/8/08 a piece of paper, a "Voter Registration Form", was
delivered through my door demanding details of people resident at
my postal address on 15/10/08. These demands were accompanied by
threats.

Not having a crystal ball I put this piece of paper to one side,
ready to complete it at some time on or after 15/10/08. To complete
it before 15/10/08 would mean making a false declaration.

The piece of paper does ask people to complete and return it as
soon as possible. In the context of any piece of paper "as soon as
possible" has only one meaning, as soon as possible after the date
for completion, which in this case is on 15/10/08.

I note that on the piece of paper you make at least three threats

1) "You are required by law to give the information asked for in
this form." This threat is made twice.

2) "It is an offence to give false information on this form."

3) "If you do not respond to this form you may not appear on the
revised register and you may lose your right to vote."

I was only partly surprised to get another piece of paper from Fife
Council, which was wrongly called a "reminder". This "reminder",
issued for something which is not yet due, means that my money has
been wasted by Fife Council. I thought that Fife Council was short
of money.

I was informed by yourselves that you also issue a "final
reminder", on a date which is likely to be something like 10/10/08.
That will be another waste of my money.

In addition to the waste of my money, sending out a "reminder" and
"final reminder" before the due date clearly constitutes
harassment.

Second, the questions.

The piece of paper clearly states that the due date is 15/10/08.
Why do you send out the piece of paper so early? Please provide the
documents on which the decision to send these pieces of paper out
way before the due date was made. If the decision was made for your
administrative convenience then please state this.

Why do you encourage people to make false declarations? Please
provide the documents on which the decision to encourage false
declarations was made.

Why do you conduct a campaign of harassment against those who do
not wish to make a false declaration? Please provide the documents
on which the decision to mount this campaign of harassment was
made.

Please provide a breakdown of the total financial cost of sending
the "reminder"s and "final reminder"s out. This should include
postal costs and rough figures for staff and computer (if any) and
stationary costs. The costs should be for sending these pieces of
paper out to all recipients, not just one individual. I don't ask
for the nearest penny.

Please provide the number of "reminder"s and "final reminder"s sent
out. As well as a financial cost there is an environmental cost of
all these unnecessary pieces of paper, each instance of which
consists of two envelopes and at least one piece of paper.

In view of your threat 3) above, please provide me with the closing
date (the date after which you will be unable to guarantee that a
person will "appear on the revised register" if you get their piece
of paper after that date). If this closing date is before say
1/11/08 please indicate why you believe a closing date so close to
the due date is reasonable.

Please note that "replies" which involve attachments in proprietary
file formats are not acceptable. A reply which is not in plain text
format will be deemed to be a refusal to answer.

Yours faithfully,

David Hansen

Thank you for your email. We will either respond directly or forward your email to the most appropriate person to give you a response.

If you have any further queries, or if you haven't received a response within 2 weeks, please call us on the following -

Housing Repairs 08451 55 00 11
Environment Team 08451 55 00 22
Housing Information
and Advice 08451 55 00 33
Rent Arrears 08451 55 00 44
General Enquries 08451 55 00 00

Best regards,

Fife Direct Team
Fife Council

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Dear Mr Hansen

I have been asked to reply to your Freedom of Information request.

Electoral Registration Officers throughout Great Britain send annual electoral canvass forms out during August early September. This timing broadly coincides with the last date to update the register used throughout the year, which on this occasion was 8th August. We sent our forms on 11th August.

Unless an election is called, no updates to the register can take place after 8th August until a revised register of electors is produced following the annual canvass of electors. This allows a period of approximately 3 months to conduct the canvass. This period of time is required so that all necessary steps, as identified within the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as amended), can be taken to update the register prior to the publication of the revised register due by 1st December.

Householders are asked to confirm all eligible adults resident on the relevant date of 15th October. They are also informed on the front of the form that they need not wait until then to make a return. This is to allow a return to be made at an earlier stage from those addresses where residents are well established and not subject to change in the interim.

We do not encourage people to make false declarations.

Our canvass form is substantively based on that contained within the Representation of the People (Form of Canvass) (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The content of the form contained in regulations is recommended for our use by the Electoral Commission.

We do not conduct a campaign of harassment.

The form of words you refer to as "threats" are all contained in the form of canvass regulations and reflect legal requirements and the effect of non compliance.

It is not possible to provide you with the financial costs of reminders and final reminders as these are currently not yet fully available.

From the 170,415 original forms issued we sent reminders to 73,044. We have not yet sent final reminders.

The "closing" date you refer to is established by reference to the progress we are making with inputting canvass information and printing lead times to ensure publication by the 1st December. Whilst the date for this is not yet set It is unlikely to be as early as 1/11/08. Around mid November is more realistic.

Yours Sincerely

Lawrence Cooper MBA MMS(Dip) AEA(Dip)
Depute Electoral Registration Officer &
Team Leader Administration
Assessor & Electoral Registration Service
Fife Council
Forth House
Abbotshall Road
Kirkcaldy
Fife
KY1 1RU

Tel. 08451 55 55 55 Extn 440465
Fax. 01592 583319
email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Lawrence Cooper,

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately it does not answer several
of the questions I asked.

"Householders are asked to confirm all eligible adults resident on
the relevant date of 15th October. They are also informed on the
front of the form that they need not wait until then to make a
return. This is to allow a return to be made at an earlier stage
from those addresses where residents are well established and not
subject to change in the interim."

This passage does not, "provide the documents on which the decision
to send these pieces of paper out way before the due date was
made", which is what I requested.

There would seem to be only two possibilities. Either there are no
documents on which this decision was based, or there are documents
which Fife Council is refusing to provide. Please indicate which
option is the correct one.

You have failed to answer yes or no to my point, "If the decision
was made for your administrative convenience then please state
this." However, it appears clear from the passage above that this
decision was made for the administrative convenience of Fife
Council.

"We do not encourage people to make false declarations."

That assertion is false and will remain false no matter how loud
often it is made. It is not possible to declare who was living in a
house on 15/10/08 until 15/10/08 at the earliest. Any such
declaration made before 15/10/08 is a false declaration.

"We do not conduct a campaign of harassment."

That assertion would appear to make the false assumption that it is
what the harasser thinks/intends which makes something harassment
or not. In fact it is what the victim thinks which makes something
harassment or not. This was made crystal clear during Westminster
discussions on the Protection from Harassment Act. Sending out two
additional pieces of paper, each of which contains several threats,
before the due date of the original piece of paper is a campaign of
harassment. It is a campaign because it is done more than once.

"The form of words you refer to as "threats" are all contained in
the form of canvass regulations and reflect legal requirements and
the effect of non compliance."

So what? That does not make these threats into non-threats by some
form of magic.

"It is not possible to provide you with the financial costs of
reminders and final reminders as these are currently not yet fully
available."

When will these full costs be available please? Could you provide
them when they are available, or should I make another inquiry at
that time?

"From the 170,415 original forms issued we sent reminders to
73,044."

Thank you. According to
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump1...
second class post costs from 24p per item for account and franking
customers. Assuming Fife Council pays 24p that means that at least
£17530.56 (73044 * 0.24) of my/our money was spent issuing these
threats, on postage alone. Presumably other councils are wasting
similarly large sums of money.

In your reply on the closing date you state that, "Around mid
November is more realistic." Where and when is the actual date
published?

Yours sincerely,

David Hansen

I am currently on leave. If your request is urgent, please contact 08451 555555 (extension gateway) then dial 440465. Alternatively, email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Hansen

Thank you for your reply.

The decision to send the canvass forms out on the 11th August was based
on the time available to undertake the canvass and the need to take all
necessary steps to maintain the Electoral Register given by the
requirements of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as amended).
It is this document that forms the basis for canvass timing although it
is for each local authority to decide how best to fulfill these
obligations. The Representation of the People Act is a public document.

I am not aware of any Electoral Registration Officer who waits to
October to commence the canvass, with the start date generally being
during August early September. We took the decision to maximise the time
available by going out in August. Our view was to do otherwise would
have seriously jeopardised our ability to update the register in time
for the publication date of the revised register by 1st December.

The inclusion of the 15th October date in legislation has long been a
contentious issue amongst administrators, with many of the view that the
date should be removed or altered in legislation to avoid the type of
points raised by yourself.

As regards the cost of reminders, in broad terms they are as follows;
Postage out £11,664.18 (Walksort discount)
Printing £2,519.62
Envelopes £2,441.86
Postage in £5,236.18 (estimated on the difference between reminders and
final reminders)
Total £21,861.84

The date in November that we will end canvass operations prior to the
production of the revised Register of Electors is decided by ourselves
taking account of the factors I mention in my previous reply to you.
There is no publication of this date and forms received afterwards are
considered for inclusion in the next monthly update to the register
which commences January 2009.

Final Reminder costs will be collated when we have concluded the
canvass and I will provide them to you in the same manner as above at
that time if you wish.

Yours Sincerely

Dear Lawrence Cooper,

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately it does not answer
several
of the questions I asked.

"Householders are asked to confirm all eligible adults resident
on
the relevant date of 15th October. They are also informed on the
front of the form that they need not wait until then to make a
return. This is to allow a return to be made at an earlier stage
from those addresses where residents are well established and not
subject to change in the interim."

This passage does not, "provide the documents on which the
decision
to send these pieces of paper out way before the due date was
made", which is what I requested.

There would seem to be only two possibilities. Either there are
no
documents on which this decision was based, or there are
documents
which Fife Council is refusing to provide. Please indicate which
option is the correct one.

You have failed to answer yes or no to my point, "If the decision
was made for your administrative convenience then please state
this." However, it appears clear from the passage above that this
decision was made for the administrative convenience of Fife
Council.

"We do not encourage people to make false declarations."

That assertion is false and will remain false no matter how loud
often it is made. It is not possible to declare who was living in
a
house on 15/10/08 until 15/10/08 at the earliest. Any such
declaration made before 15/10/08 is a false declaration.

"We do not conduct a campaign of harassment."

That assertion would appear to make the false assumption that it
is
what the harasser thinks/intends which makes something harassment
or not. In fact it is what the victim thinks which makes
something
harassment or not. This was made crystal clear during Westminster
discussions on the Protection from Harassment Act. Sending out
two
additional pieces of paper, each of which contains several
threats,
before the due date of the original piece of paper is a campaign
of
harassment. It is a campaign because it is done more than once.

"The form of words you refer to as "threats" are all contained in
the form of canvass regulations and reflect legal requirements
and
the effect of non compliance."

So what? That does not make these threats into non-threats by
some
form of magic.

"It is not possible to provide you with the financial costs of
reminders and final reminders as these are currently not yet
fully
available."

When will these full costs be available please? Could you provide
them when they are available, or should I make another inquiry at
that time?

"From the 170,415 original forms issued we sent reminders to
73,044."

Thank you. According to

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump1...

second class post costs from 24p per item for account and
franking
customers. Assuming Fife Council pays 24p that means that at
least
£17530.56 (73044 * 0.24) of my/our money was spent issuing these
threats, on postage alone. Presumably other councils are wasting
similarly large sums of money.

In your reply on the closing date you state that, "Around mid
November is more realistic." Where and when is the actual date
published?

Yours sincerely,

David Hansen

show quoted sections

Dear Lawrence Cooper,

Thank you for your reply of 13/10/08 which is a full enough answer
to most of my enquiry.

I look forward to you forwarding details of the cost of sending out
the "final reminders" before the due date, when these are
available.

Yours sincerely,

David Hansen

Dear Mr Hansen

Final Reminder costs as requested; Postage out £8,066.42 (Walksort
discount) Printing £1,921.09 Envelopes £1,680.79 Postage in £3,171.93
(estimated on the difference between final reminders and end return)
Total £14,840.23

Yours Sincerely

Lawrence Cooper
Depute Electoral Registration Officer
Team Leader
Assessor & Electoral Registration Service
Fife Council
Forth House
Abbotshall Road
Kirkcaldy
Fife
KY1 1RU

Tel. 08451 55 55 55 Extn 440465
Fax. 01592 583319
email: [email address]

show quoted sections

14:18:38 >>>
Dear Lawrence Cooper,

Thank you for your reply of 13/10/08 which is a full enough
answer
to most of my enquiry.

I look forward to you forwarding details of the cost of sending
out
the "final reminders" before the due date, when these are
available.

Yours sincerely,

David Hansen

show quoted sections