Question

To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many security passes into the Electoral Commission are issued to people (a) not directly employed by and (b) who are not civil servants who work in the Electoral Commission.

The Electoral Commission leases four access controlled offices – in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – none of which are located in civil service buildings. All Electoral Commission members of staff – including fixed contract and temporary or agency staff – are issued with security passes for the office that they are based in.

a) Numbers of passes issued fluctuate over the year. Passes are only issued to staff and contractors who need to be in an office for a sustained period to carry out their work for the Electoral Commission. Guests are collected from a reception desk and escorted out of an Electoral Commission office by a member of staff.

b) The Electoral Commission is a non-Crown body which means there are no civil servants who work in the Electoral Commission.