Political Parties and Elections Bill

The amendment deals with the functions of the Electoral Commission but from a very different perspective than that which occupied the Committee earlier this afternoon. The Electoral Commission was established under the 2000 Act to review and report on elections and referendums as well as to have a regulatory role in relation to political parties, primarily donations to the parties. The name of the Act is instructive—the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act—as is the name of the commission. The expertise of the commission lies in respect of the process of voting, be it in referendums or the election of office holders, and in party registration and financing. The principal functions of the commission, as the noble Lord, Lord Bach, indicated earlier, are regulatory and advisory. However, Section 13 of the 2000 Act confers an educational role. Under the terms of the section, the commission is required to promote public awareness of, ""current electoral systems in the United Kingdom and any pending such elections, together with such matters connected with any such existing or pending systems as the Commission may determine"." If the commission is to have an educational role, then it is appropriate that it raises awareness of electoral systems. That is its area of expertise. It is well placed to disseminate material about electoral systems and, indeed, it produces some very good material on elections and the electoral processes. I am a great consumer of its work and its output has been extremely good. However, Section 13(1) is not confined to electoral systems. Paragraph (b) confers the requirement to promote public awareness of, ""current systems of local government and national government in the United Kingdom and any pending such systems"," and paragraph (c) requires the commission to promote awareness of, ""the institutions of the European Union"." It is not clear why the Electoral Commission should be required to promote awareness of systems of government and the institutions of the European Union. It may be that, in raising awareness of electoral systems, it needs to put them in the context of the particular political systems within which they operate, but that is covered by paragraph (a) in referring to "matters connected" to electoral systems. As it stands, the requirement to promote public awareness of current systems of government in the UK, and the institutions of the EU, are independent of the function of raising awareness of electoral systems. There are two objections to retaining subsections (1)(b) and (1)(c). The first is that they do not fall within the expertise of the commission. The commission has no particular role or expertise in relation, say, to the European Commission or the Council of Ministers. Why should the Electoral Commission receive public funding to raise awareness of those bodies when the institutions of the EU have their own budgets? The European Parliament is active in seeking to raise public awareness of its role. It is not clear why the Electoral Commission should take on such a role. There are other bodies engaged in that task which have the resources, including the expertise, so to do. The second reason is that it detracts from the commission fulfilling its core functions. As we know, it has been subject to some criticism for extending its activities, especially its advisory role, in such a way as to detract from its regulatory role. The purpose of the Bill is, in part, to inject some greater expertise in relation to political activity. The intention is that some commissioners will be drawn from political parties. There is no intention that commissioners will be appointed who have experience in the European Parliament or the European Commission. It is always possible that a commissioner may be drawn from such a background, but it is not required by the terms of the Bill and the likelihood is that their experience will be in national politics. I therefore see no reason for retaining subsections (1)(b) and (1)(c) in Section 13 of the Act. It may be that the Electoral Commission has not devoted much time or resources to raising awareness of systems of government in the UK or the institutions of the EU, in which case it is not fulfilling its statutory obligations. We should therefore bring the statutory provision into line with the reality. If it has sought to raise that awareness, then we can help free some of its resources to focus on its core functions, those which it is eminently qualified to fulfil. I beg to move.