Democratic Services and Electoral Services

Democratic services

Manage meetings involving councillors
Collate reports and prepare agendas
Publish agendas for public meetings eight calendar days in advance
Make practical arrangements for meetings
Publish minutes and decision notices
Publish a bulletin every Wednesday containing executive decisions taken during the previous week. These decisions can be challenged ("called-in") by councillors during the following five working days
Provide a point of contact for councillor's enquiries
Administer the councillor's allowances scheme
Post information sent to the council to councillors every week
Keep information on councillors, meetings, decisions and parish council contacts on the council's web site and provide this information over the phone
Help with enquiries and complaints from constituents

Explain the Council's decision making process
Provide contact details for elected decision makers
Publish decisions made by the Council
Advise you on how to ask questions at public meetings
Provide hearing loop/head phones for meetings held in the Council chamber
Give you information if you are thinking of standing for election as a councillor
Provide an up-to-date system storing Council minutes from 1997, agendas from 2001 and information about councillors
Publish agendas for public meetings eight calendar days in advance
Publish decisions on the council's web site no later than the Thursday after they have been made
Publish minutes of public meetings on the council's website. We aim to publish within two weeks of a meeting being held
Provide public information by other means on request
Provide public information free of charge if sent electronically
Provide paper copies of public information at set charges
Support the scrutiny of Council decisions and advise you about your right to address the Scrutiny and Overview Committee
Explain how Council policies can be challenged
Give advice on presenting petitions or asking questions at Council or Cabinet meetings (for more information, see our separate leaflet "Public questions and petitions")

Give us at least eight days notice of any public question to make sure it is included on the agenda
Tell us in advance if you are coming to a meeting and need a hearing loop or any other help

Administer parish, district, county, general and European elections
Handle the nomination process
Print and deliver poll cards
Arrange and staff up to 120 polling stations
Arrange absent (postal/proxy) votes
Make sure the electoral process is honest and accountable
Arrange vote counting
Declare results and announce elected councillors or MPs
Maintain and update the Register of Electors
Carry out the annual canvass every autumn to ensure that those residents on the Register still live in the same property
Supply copies of the Register to those entitled to have it - police, court service, credit referencing agencies and others
Check the Register thoroughly to avoid duplicate registrations

Give you advice if you are thinking of standing for election as a councillor
Explain the electoral process to you
Have polling stations that are accessible to everyone
Arrange postal or proxy votes on request
Make sure that you are included on the Register of Electors
Process all postal vote applications within two working days
Acknowledge all postal or proxy vote and registration applications
Deliver postal votes as quickly as possible after the close of election nominations
Make sure all elements of the electoral process are open and honest
Make sure that all parish, district and county councillor vacancies are advertised in every parish
Make sure that only valid candidates stand for election
Carry out vote counting honestly and accurately
Oversee a thorough annual canvass sending forms to every household
Send at least two reminders to households if they do not return their initial canvass form
Publish a revised Register of Electors on the first working day of December each year
Publish the most accurate Register possible
Process all rolling registration applications the same day we receive them
Encourage voter registration
Make registration as easy as possible by using telephone and internet registration where available

Return your annual canvass form immediately, completing all of the information
If possible, use the telephone and internet registration services
Contact us for a voter registration form or download one from our website at www.scambs.gov.uk when you move into the area
If you move out of South Cambridgeshire, contact your new council for a voter registration form, adding your old address so that we can remove you from our records
If you would like to vote by post or proxy permanently, apply as soon as possible to avoid late applications during elections
If you would like to view the Register of Electors, please telephone us for an appointment - this will help us make sure everything you need is available, and we may even be able to answer your query over the telephone