Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that a minimum of two months' notice is given to a returning officer when requesting copies of full election accounts and receipts.

Returning officers (ROs) have six months from the date of a poll to provide their fully completed claim form and supporting evidence to the Elections Claim Unit (ECU) at the Cabinet Office. This provides time for ROs to complete their claim form and gather all the evidence necessary to account for the expenses claimed.

The evidence that needs to be submitted with the expenses claim is determined by the scrutiny category assigned to each voting area. ROs are advised that full election accounts and all evidence should be kept readily available. ROs are expected by the National Audit Office to have this information readily available to them after the claim has been submitted.