Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland is a Crown body or a non-departmental public body; and what the planned budget for that office is for 2016-17.

The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland is a statutory officer holder. He/she is supported by the employees of the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland who are recruited directly by the Chief Electoral Officer under s.14A of the Electoral Law Act 1962.

An initial resource budget (excluding depreciation) of £2,011,000 has been allocated to the Chief Electoral Officer. Further funding – both capital and resource – will be made available to support the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland transformation programme which includes the introduction of digital registration.

The Chief Electoral Officer will also receive funding from the Consolidated Fund and the Northern Ireland Assembly to support the EU Referendum and Northern Ireland Assembly elections that are due to take place in 2016.