Speaker's Committee Third
Report 2005
1. The principal purpose of this report is to place
in the public domain the report of the Comptroller and Auditor
General for 2003-04 under paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 1 of the
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 on his examination
into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the
Commission has used its resources. The Committee has a statutory
obligation[1] to have regard
to the most recent such report when considering the Electoral
Commission's proposed Estimates and Corporate Plan.
2. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report focuses
on expenditure on the training of electoral staff for the 2004
European Parliamentary Elections, which were held in June 2004.
Primarily for this purpose, the Electoral Commission had sought
an increase in resources for training development and delivery
from £300,000 in 2002-03 to £3,107,000 in 2003-04. The
report is reproduced at Appendix 1.
3. The Committee is pleased to note the main finding
of the report, that "overall, the Commission's project for
training electoral staff met its objectives, was delivered effectively
and overall offered value for money"[2].
The Comptroller and Auditor General has, however, made a number
of detailed recommendations in his report, and the Committee commends
these to the Electoral Commission for its attention.
4. The Committee is also taking this opportunity
to publish the minutes of its meeting on 6 July 2005. These are
reproduced at Appendix 2.
1 By virtue of paragraphs 14 and 15 of Schedule 1 of
the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Back
2
Paragraph 5. Back
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