PRE-REFERENDUM PERIOD GUIDANCE - EU REFERENDUM 23rd JUNE 2016

Introduction

The EU referendum will take place on Thursday 23rd June 2016. Although thereferendum does not have any direct effect on the Council and its day to day business, in order to maintain principles of good governance and to avoid unnecessary conflict, basic adherence to the general rules of purdah should apply.

In the period from Friday 27thMay to Thursday 23rd June 2016 inclusive, the Council, its Members and its Officers should be aware of the legislation whichprevents local authorities from publishing any "promotional material" arguing for or against any particular outcome or referring to any of the issues involved in the referendum (see Appendix 1).

This briefing note sets out some key information which you may find helpful. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact either Tasnim Shawkat at , LeVerne Parker at or Rhian Davies at

Checklist of DOs & DON’Ts

  1. DO – ensure that no publicity is arguing for or against any outcome of the referendumor referring to any of the issues involved in the referendum– this includes council-organised events, leaflets, posters, press releases, sponsorship and photos
  2. DO – ensure that there is no proactive publicity that could be seen to support a particular outcome of the referendum
  3. DO – avoid the Council launching any new projects, initiatives and consultation during this period which could be regarded as supporting a particular outcome of the referendum
  4. DO – ensure that council or education authority premises, including schools, are not visited for campaigning purposes. This is especially relevant to visits for photo opportunities.
  5. DO – ensure that Council business continues as normal
  6. DO NOT – use council resources to support a particular outcome of the referendum, this includes photographs, photocopying/reprographics
  7. DO NOT – display promotional material arguing for or against any particular outcome or referring to any of the issues involved in the referendum, eg posters or leaflets on council premises (includes street lights, street railings, schools, school-keepers house, etc) or vehicles.

Guidance for Members and Officers

Overview

  • The basic principle for any council officer is to maintain impartiality
  • There is legislation that covers carrying on business, publicity and the use of premises during the pre-referendum period.
  • Extra caution is necessary in relation to publicity
  • Council business must continue

Publicity

  • Publicity is defined very widely, covering leaflets and press releases. It also includes sponsorship, events, photos and posters
  • Publicity produced by the local authority is restricted at all times and, in the run up to a referendum, further rules apply
  • The Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity has been taken into account in preparing this guidance.
  • During the pre-referendum period, local authorities should not publish any publicity on controversial issues or report views or proposals in such a way that identifies them with supporting any particular outcome of the referendum or which refers to any of the issues involved in the referendum.
  • Councillors are still free to respond to enquiries received from the media and can issue their own statements or write to newspapers in a personal capacity but must not use Council resources to do so.

Consultations

  • Officers should consider decisions planned to take place after a referendum and consider whether the consultation should be completed before or postponed till after the pre-referendum period.

Decision-making

  • There is no statutory or other restriction on the Council’s decision-making, meetings or political debate during the pre-referendum period so it is “business as usual” unless there are very good reasons why this should not be the case.
  • Officers should consider carefully whether it is wise to bring forward any matters for decision during the pre-referendum period that could be deemed to be affecting support for a particular outcome.

Entitlement to Use Rooms

  • Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, the designated “permitted participants” are entitled to use certain rooms free of charge for referendum meetings, subject to certain conditions
  • A Permitted Participant must be designated by the Commission and is only entitled to use a room:
  • where reasonable notice has been given
  • where the use of the room will not interfere with the use of the room for an educational purpose or another pre-agreed purpose or
  • where there no prior agreement for the letting of the room
  • Permitted Participants are required to meet expenses incurred in the use of the rooms
  • The Council cannot refuse a Permitted Participant the right to use a room on public order grounds. If the Council has concerns about public order at areferendum meeting, it is imperative that it advises the Counting Officer (normally the Returning Officer in elections) immediately and liaises, in consultation with the Counting Officer, with the Police. It is the police who have responsibility for maintaining public order using the powers available to them.

Use of and Access to Premises

  • The Council should not allow campaigners to use or visit council or education authority premises during the pre-referendum period for campaigning purposes. This includes schools, care homes and similar facilities and is especially relevant to photo opportunities
  • Campaigners should not be afforded special access rights to controlled residential areas or block of flats for campaigning

It may be legitimate in some cases for campaigners to visit the facilities and services carried out at premises during the pre-referendum period but this must not be for campaigning purposes. The senior officer with responsibility for the function/premises is the final decision maker about whether a visit can take place.

If a legitimate reason for a visit is identified during the pre-referendum period, extreme caution should be exercised, and the following rules must be followed and arrangements will be made by the candidates/agents with the relevant officer:

  1. The senior officer with responsibility for the function/premises is the final decision-maker about whether a visit can take place. The decision will take account of various factors including, but not limited to, operational concerns. Advice should always be sought from the relevant officer
  2. If there is any possibility that the visit could be used for campaigning it should not go ahead. While the premises may be visited and individuals involved with particular services (eg teachers) can meet campaigners, no officer or premise can be involved in campaigning. Particular care must be taken by officers and campaigners to avoid this
  3. In some circumstances, events may not be appropriate due to the inability to separate the event from campaigning. Alternatively, council staff may be advised not to participate in the event, even if the facility is made available for a visit
  4. All campaigners are entitled to the same rights regardless of who originally asked to visit Council premises or for an invitation to an event. All campaigners must be treated at all times in an even-handed way.

Where properties are not the responsibility of the Council, whether or not visits take place will be determined by the relevant organisation eg NHS Trust for hospitals. If these organisations seek advice, we should advise them that the decision rests with them but there is an expectation that all campaigners will be treated in an even-handed way. Particular care must be taken, in relation to visits to education establishments, not to involve children in overt or indirect campaigning media coverage.

Where there are partnership arrangements, for example where one agency owns the land and a number of agencies collaborate in a partnership project, the lead will be taken by the agency with responsibility for the premises. The other agencies should be involved in discussions surrounding such an event to establish their level and/or extent of involvement. An example may be, a partner organisation making a decision about an event because they are responsible as the landowners/landlords and the Council making a decision about staff not participating in an event to avoid compromising their impartiality – this does not necessarily mean that the event will not take place.

It is important that campaigners are made to observe these principles and understand that any request for an event needs to be made in a timely and effective manner and to the correct body/individual. In most cases, where there is any uncertainty, particularly in relation to partnerships there should be discussions well in advance of the event with the relevant Director or Head of Service who will, if necessary, re-direct the enquiry.

General Principles that should be followed

  • There should be even-handedness in responding to information requests from all campaigners. Such requests and responses should be handled in accordance with the principles laid down within the Council’s Constitution
  • Particular care should be taken over officer support and the use of public resources including publicity for council announcements that have (or potentially have) a bearing on issues relating to the referendum
  • Similar care should be taken over announcement of decisions made by officers and , in some cases, it may be better to defer an announcement until after the referendum.
  • Special care must be taken in relation to any publicity campaign to avoid criticism that it is being undertaken for campaigning purposes. Generally there should not be any new campaigns, including consultation that might be considered to have an impact on the outcome, during the pre-referendum period.

Tasnim Shawkat

Director of Law

May 2016

Appendix 1

Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

Section 125- Restriction on publicationetc.of promotional material by central and local government etc.

(1)This section applies to any material which—

(a)provides general information about a referendum to which this Part applies;

(b)deals with any of the issues raised by any question on which such a referendum is being held;

(c)puts any arguments for or against any particular answer to any such question; or

(d)is designed to encourage voting at such a referendum.

(2)Subject to subsection (3), no material to which this section applies shall be published during the relevant period by or on behalf of—

(a)any Minister of the Crown, government department or local authority; or

(b)any other person or body whose expenses are defrayed wholly or mainly out of public funds or by any local authority.

(3)Subsection (2) does not apply to—

(a)material made available to persons in response to specific requests for information or to persons specifically seeking access to it;

(b)anything done by or on behalf of the Commission or a person or body designated under section 108 (designation of organisations to whom assistance is available);

(c)the publication of information relating to the holding of the poll; or

(d)the issue of press notices;

and subsection (2)(b) shall not be taken as applying to the British Broadcasting Corporation or Sianel Pedwar Cymru.

(4)In this section—

(a)“publish” means make available to the public at large, or any section of the public, in whatever form and by whatever means (and “publication” shall be construed accordingly);

(b)“the relevant period”, in relation to a referendum, means the period of 28 days ending with the date of the poll.