Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance he has issued to the Elections Claims Unit on the publication of communications or queries relating to expenses for previous polls during subsequent polls.

Cabinet Office officials advised the Association of Electoral Administrators that correspondence relating to expenses claims for previous polls would continue to be sent out by the Elections Claims Unit (ECU) during the period running up to the general election, in June 2017, on the basis that an immediate response would not be required and a longer deadline than normal would be set. This was to allow the ECU to continue their work on the scrutiny and settlement process for claims relating to the 2016 Police and Crime Commissioner election and the 2016 EU Referendum.