Electoral Commission
(asked on 4th September 2014) - View Source
Question
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, with reference to the key success measures on page 14 of the Commission's Corporate Plan 2014-19, what the main targets for successful public awareness campaigns were; what the targets were for each of these campaigns; and whether subsequent targets are adjusted in the light of the results of each campaign.
The Electoral Commission informs me that it has information available about the targets set for its public awareness campaigns since 2010.
The nature of these targets can vary between campaigns depending on the focus, be it awareness-raising, voter information or voter registration.
The Commission sets stretching targets for each campaign based primarily on the performance of the nearest comparable campaign. It also takes into account a number of other factors in addition to this. These include campaign messaging and call-to-action; audience; and pre-existing public interest in the event(s) taking place.
The table below outlines the main targets set for each full campaign run by the Electoral Commission since the 2010 UK General Election, and the actual result.
The only campaigns not included in the table below are the Welsh devolution referendum, March 2011 and UK Parliamentary voting system referendum, May 2011; Scottish Parliamentary, Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly, English local and Northern Irish local elections, 2011 campaigns.
This is because the Electoral Commission did not have comparable campaigns against which to benchmark targets.
Campaign | Area | Target
| Actual Result |
UK general and English local elections, 2010 | Registration form downloads (total, pre-registration-deadline and post-registration-deadline) | 142,000 | 540,000 |
Calls received by the call centre | 12,000 | 53,000 | |
Forms sent out by the call centre | 10,000 | 10,000 | |
English, Scottish and Welsh local, London mayoral and London Assembly elections, 2012
(GB-wide targets) | Registration form downloads | 75,000 (15,000 of which are from Scotland) | 146,774 |
% of the population report having seen at least one element of the campaign | 50-60% | 66% | |
English, Scottish and Welsh local, London mayoral and London Assembly elections, 2012
(Scotland only targets)
| % of people recognising the door drop booklet | 20%-30% | 38%-43% |
% of the population know the elections on 3 May are for local council elections | 20% to 30% | 63% | |
% of those that claim to have read the booklet who know that you vote using numbers | 50% to 60% | 95% | |
% of the population report having seen at least one element of the Scotland-specific campaign | 50% to 60% | 62%-68% | |
England and Wales police and crime commissioner elections, 2012 | % of the population report having seen at least one element of the campaign | 50%-60% | 50% |
% of the population recognising the door drop booklet (mid-wave) | 25%-35% | 32% | |
% of the population knowing that the elections on 15 November are for PCCs (mid-wave) | 40%-50% | 46% | |
% of those who claim to have read the booklet know that you vote using first or second choice (mid-wave) | 50%-60% | 58% | |
English and Welsh local elections, 2013 | Registration forms downloaded from the website | 75,000 | 87,000 |
% of the population report having seen at least one element of the registration campaign | 50%-60% | 62% | |
Northern Ireland canvass, 2013 | % of people report having seen or heard at least one element of the campaign. | 50-60% | 74% |
% of people know the return deadline is 27 September | 20-30% | 38% | |
% of people claimed they returned their form as a result of seeing the advertising. | 25-35% | 30% | |
% of canvass forms are returned by the 27 September deadline | 50-60% | 70% | |
% of canvass forms are returned by the 28 October deadline | 70-80% | 79% | |
English and Northern Irish local, English mayoral and UK European Parliamentary elections, 2014
(GB-wide targets) | % of the population report having seen at least one element of the registration campaign | 60%-70% | 69% |
Registration forms downloaded from aboutmyvote.co.uk | 140,000 | 207,815 | |
English and Northern Irish local, English mayoral and UK European Parliamentary elections, 2014
(Northern Ireland-only targets) | % of population report having seen at least one element of the registration campaign | 60-70% | 78% (voter registration campaign)
69% (voter information campaign) |
Registration forms downloaded from aboutmyvote.co.uk. | 10,000 | 6,059 | |
% of the population aware of the requirement to take a valid form of photographic ID to vote. | 95%-98% | 95% | |
English and Northern Irish local, English mayoral and UK European Parliamentary elections, 2014
(Overseas voter-only targets) | Registration form downloads from aboutmyvote.co.uk | 25,000 | 7,079 |