Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

My Lords, this group contains Amendments 110B, 110C, 110C, 110D and 110E. The amendment would give the Chief Counting Officer, who is chair of the Electoral Commission, the power to incur expenses for the effective conduct of the referendum and in certain limited circumstances, make payments in respect of those expenses out of moneys to be provided from the consolidated fund. I can assure the Committee that the Chief Counting Officer will be able to spend conduct moneys only where doing so provides a clear financial benefit. The Royal Mail, for example, has indicated that it may be able to provide a cheaper service for the sweeps of mail centres—a service that ensures that any votes still in the mail centres towards the end of polling day are identified, extracted and provided to returning and counting officers before the close of poll that evening—if it can contract for this on a national basis with one individual rather than having to negotiate and contract with more than 350 officers who will be conducting the poll at local level. The amendment would help to make the administration of the referendum easier for the Chief Counting Officer and for counting officers, and provides an opportunity for savings to be made on the conduct of the poll. I beg to move.