My Lords, the first five instruments before us today are for debate together. The two sets of referendums regulations and the police and crime commissioner elections order update respectively the rules for the conduct and administration of local authority council tax referendums, referendums concerning a local authority’s governance arrangements in England, and elections of police and crime commissioners in England and Wales. In the main, they do so by applying or copying provisions in the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 and associated secondary legislation, which made a number of changes to the rules for UK parliamentary elections. Noble Lords will be familiar—possibly by now very familiar—with many of these measures, which we have considered in earlier debates on instruments which apply the measures for the conduct of other elections and referendums.
The combination of polls regulations make a small number of changes to the conduct rules and forms used by voters that apply when the poll at a parliamentary election is combined with a poll at another election or referendum. The European parliamentary elections regulations clarify certain issues, mainly arising from the changes made for the conduct of European parliamentary elections by amending regulations made in 2013.
In the main, the changes introduced by all five instruments are intended to come into effect for polls held on or after 22 May 2014, which is the date of the European parliamentary elections and scheduled local elections in parts of England. The changes are designed to improve the accessibility and security of the voting
process, and implement a number of recommendations which have been made by, among others, the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators.
The two sets of regulations concerning local authority council tax and governance referendums contain an additional provision on calculating the campaign expenditure limit for campaigners at these referendums. We intend that this should come into force on the day after the two instruments are made. I will set out this change in more detail shortly.
The instruments are part of a comprehensive package of statutory instruments which make various changes to the rules for conducting elections and referendums in the UK. The Government have consulted on the changes with the Electoral Commission and with others such as the Association of Electoral Administrators.
I turn to the provisions in the two sets of regulations concerning local authority council tax and governance referendums, and the PCC elections order. The two sets of referendums regulations change the basis on which the campaign expenditure limit is calculated for local authority council tax and governance referendums. It is currently calculated by reference to the number of electors on the register published after the annual canvass in the year preceding the referendum. However, under the transition to individual electoral registration, a post-canvass register was not produced in 2013. We are therefore providing that in future the limit will be calculated by reference to the register as it exists at the beginning of the referendum period. This period begins at least 28 working days before a council tax referendum, and at least 56 working days before a local authority governance referendum.
All three instruments, including the PCC elections order, update the forms used by voters, such as poll cards and postal voting statements, which are intended to make the voting process more accessible. The instruments also provide for police community support officers to enter polling stations and counting venues under the same conditions as police constables. This will allow police forces additional flexibility in deploying their resources on polling day, and allow them to provide greater visible reassurance to the public. The instruments provide that voters waiting in the queue at the close of poll at 10 pm on polling day, for the purpose of voting, may be issued with ballot papers to enable them to vote or may return postal voting statements or postal ballot papers despite the close of poll.
Members of the Committee may wish to note that relevant revisions in the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 apply to the local authority council tax and governance referendums instruments, so amendments recently made to those regulations will apply also to these referendums, without the need for further changes to the referendums instruments. Further, the provisions have been copied into the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order so that they will apply to those polls. These recent amendments include a requirement for 100% of postal vote indicators to be checked rather than the current minimum of 20%; extension of emergency proxy provisions to those absent on grounds
of business or military service; removal of the restriction on postal votes being dispatched earlier than the 11th working day before the day of the poll.
The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order also makes changes to the timing of certain proceedings at PCC elections which will ensure greater consistency with the position at other elections and will facilitate the earlier dispatch of postal votes. In particular, the deadline for candidates to withdraw their nomination is moved from noon on the 16th working day before the poll to 4 pm on the 19th working day before the poll. This will allow postal ballot papers to be printed and therefore issued earlier than at previous elections.
I now turn to the combination of polls regulations. These regulations make a small number of changes to the conduct rules and forms used by voters that apply when the poll at a parliamentary election is combined with a poll at another election or referendum. This includes updating the notice that must be displayed in polling station compartments by making the information clearer for voters. For example, it advises voters to put a cross in the box next to their choice on the ballot paper. The instrument also updates the guidance of voters which is displayed in polling stations when a poll at a parliamentary election is combined with a poll at another election or referendum. The updated guidance gives clearer instructions to voters, including the use of images, to help voters cast their votes.
I turn now to the fifth and final instrument, the European Parliament elections regulations. They, too, make a small number of changes at European parliamentary elections. In particular, they amend the provisions that were inserted by the amending regulations made in 2013 to enable voters waiting in the queue at the close of poll to be issued with a ballot paper and cast their vote at a European parliamentary election. These provisions also enable persons queuing at the polling station at the close of poll in order to return a postal ballot paper or, if they had forgotten to put it in the covering envelope, a postal voting statement to return it.
The instrument before us today ensures that these provisions allowing the return of postal ballot papers apply when a European Parliament election is combined with another poll in England, Wales and Scotland. They also make improvements to the wording on the polling station compartment notice when a European parliamentary election is combined with another poll in England and Wales. The changes reflect the different voting instructions that it may be necessary to display if a European Parliament election is combined with a PCC election or a local referendum because these will, of course, have different voting systems.
In conclusion, these instruments make sensible and relevant changes to the conduct and administration of the polls that they cover in line with those that have been made for UK Parliamentary elections and other polls. They are designed to increase voter participation, further improve the integrity of our electoral system and ensure that the processes underpinning our elections are both more robust and more relevant to the needs of voters. I commend these instruments to the Committee.