APPENDIX 1
Memorandum by the Home Office
K. Electoral Commission
10.1 The introduction of an electoral commission
would represent a fundamental change in the way in which electoral
matters are handled and could have significant implications for
the relationship on electoral issues between central and local
government. It would require primary legislation.
A series of policy decisions would need to be
taken before developing proposals on the possible introduction
of an electoral commission. These could include
Scope of responsibility
10.3 Electoral policy and legislation is the
responsibility of the Home Office, which provides guidance on
the conduct of elections in England and Wales and funds parliamentary
and European Parliamentary elections, while conduct of elections
in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Office. Electoral
matters are not a devolved function and responsibility for these
issues will not be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. In Northern
Ireland the responsibility for conduct of all elections rests
with the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland.
10.4 Issues of scope of responsibility might
include
should a commission be responsible for electoral
matters across the whole of the United Kingdom or for only some
parts of the country.
what would be the relationship between a commission
and Government and the commission and Parliament?
Functions to be included in the commission
10.5 It will be necessary to take a view on the
scope of the functions to be carried out by a commission. While
most other jurisdictions operate with some form of a commission
either as a panel of Commissioners or a singleton Commissioner,
the range of tasks which the commissions carry out can vary considerably.
10.6 At its broadest construction, a commission
might be tasked with responsibility for one or more elements of
administration of elections, to include the
conduct of some or all of parliamentary, European Parliamentary
and local elections
setting of candidates' expenses limits
administering the poll and count for referendums/plebiscites
initiating legal challenges to election results
where there are allegations of electoral abuse
the registration of voters
registration of political parties
publishing statistics and returning officers'
accounts
monitoring of political party expenditure nationally
allocation and supervision of broadcasting
time
determination of electoral boundaries including
some or all of local, parliamentary, regional and European Parliamentary
electoral areas
provision of expert advice on electoral legislation
and electoral matters
Staffing and finance
10.7 Electoral matters are presently dealt with
by small groups of administrators in the Home Office, Scottish
Office, and Northern Ireland Office. The conduct of parliamentary
and European Parliamentary elections falls to acting returning
officers who are independent statutory officers for these purposes
(although they must be officers of a local authority to be appointed).
They employ elections staff directly and recover costs from the
Consolidated Fund.
10.8 Returning officers at local elections are
local government officers who employ election staff directly and
recover their costs from the local authority.
10.9 A key question in deciding on a possible
future electoral commission would be the status of the commission,
as a Government Department, an independent agency, NDPB, or some
other body? Other issues which are directly related to the question
of the nature of the organisation might include:
should the commission have a budget independent
of a sponsoring Department?
should the commission directly employ staff
to carry out elections or depend on local authority staff?
If the former, how would staff be employed
between elections to ensure continuity of experience and where
would they be based? If the latter should local authorities be
under a statutory duty to supply staff to the commission for elections?
April 1998
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