Political Parties and Elections Bill

Two themes have recurred in the discussions on the amendments on this first day in Committee: the first is the boundaries of discretion of the Electoral Commission and the second is the question of timings. I tested the Committee’s patience when I tried to impose timings earlier—I did not meet with a great deal of success—but in this schedule a number of references relate to time limits. For example, under "Completion certificates" the Bill states that, ""The Commission shall make a decision whether to issue a completion certificate within 14 days of the day on which they receive such an application"." The amendment follows a similar vein by requiring a fixed penalty monetary notice to be paid within 28 days. This group of amendments is designed to probe how quickly a fixed monetary penalty should be imposed and seeks to insert some important time limits into the Bill. The amendments relate to the period in which an individual can respond to a relevant civil sanction imposed upon them by the commission. As it stands, the Bill is very vague. That was recognised in the debate which took place at the Report stage in the other place on 9 February (Official Report, Commons; col. 1143). The Minister said at the Committee stage on 13 November that these amendments were unnecessary because the Bill already provides that the commission must specify the exact period for payment of the fixed monetary penalty when it imposes it, and that that period cannot exceed 28 days. However, I think the Minister is aware of the line that I am going to tread in order to get a little more information. Hitherto, it was stated that no limit in circumstances was required; here, there is a limit of 28 days for the amount to be paid. Again picking up on the interesting point made by the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, when he referred to the ability to pay, is the Minister proposing that there must be a commencement period and that the funds must be received within 28 days, or is there just a maximum of 28 days? Is it possible—I should be grateful for the Minister’s guidance on this—that payment of the fine could be required within, say, seven, 14 or 21 days up to a maximum of 28 days? Perhaps the person would be unable to make that payment or would require longer, depending on the scale of the fines that could be levied. There are some reasonable issues to tease out. These are probing amendments. We are trying to tease out the reason for inserting that the time limit cannot exceed 28 days, and we are also trying to tease out what difficulties that might impose on the commission collecting the fine or the individual paying the fine. I beg to move.