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House of Commons
Session 2009 - 10
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General Committee Debates
Delegated Legislation Committee Debates



The Committee consisted of the following Members:

Chairman: Sir Nicholas Winterton
Blizzard, Mr. Bob (Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury)
Caborn, Mr. Richard (Sheffield, Central) (Lab)
Clapham, Mr. Michael (Barnsley, West and Penistone) (Lab)
Dhanda, Mr. Parmjit (Gloucester) (Lab)
Gray, Mr. James (North Wiltshire) (Con)
Heath, Mr. David (Somerton and Frome) (LD)
Keeley, Barbara (Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons)
Liddell-Grainger, Mr. Ian (Bridgwater) (Con)
McDonagh, Siobhain (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)
Murphy, Mr. Denis (Wansbeck) (Lab)
Robathan, Mr. Andrew (Blaby) (Con)
Sharma, Mr. Virendra (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)
Smith, John (Vale of Glamorgan) (Lab)
Smith, Sir Robert (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD)
Soames, Mr. Nicholas (Mid-Sussex) (Con)
Vara, Mr. Shailesh (North-West Cambridgeshire) (Con)
Mark Etherton, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee
The following also attended (Standing Order No. 118(2)):
Mackinlay, Andrew (Thurrock) (Lab)
Malins, Mr. Humfrey (Woking) (Con)

Second Delegated Legislation Committee

Monday 14 December 2009

[Sir Nicholas Winterton in the Chair]

Motion Relating to the Electoral Commission
4.30 pm
The Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons (Barbara Keeley): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the motion, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that Her Majesty will appoint Anthony Hugh Burton Hobman as an Electoral Commissioner with effect from 19 January 2010 for the period ending on 31 December 2013.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Nicholas. We are considering a motion that has been tabled by my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the House.
Electoral commissioners are appointed for a fixed-term period of four years. This post has arisen because the term of office of one commissioner, Karamjit Singh, will expire on 19 January. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 makes the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission responsible for selecting candidates for the posts of electoral commissioner. Mr. Hobman was selected by a panel appointed by the previous Speaker, and was the panel’s unanimous recommendation. As required by statute, Mr. Speaker then consulted party leaders, who gave their agreement. I hope that the Committee will endorse this appointment.
I hope that all Committee members have been able to read the biography of Anthony Hobman that has been circulated, but if they have not, there are copies in the room. Hon. Members will see that Mr. Hobman has a considerable record of experience and achievement in regulatory work, in both executive and non-executive roles. Those are the skills that the Electoral Commission requires as it continues to move its focus towards its regulatory role. By agreeing to Mr. Hobman’s appointment as a commissioner, the House will contribute to the effectiveness of the commission in the period leading up to a general election.
The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009, which received Royal Assent on 21 July, strengthens the Electoral Commission so that it can fulfil its role as the regulator of party spending and political donations. The Act achieves that by giving the commission a broader range of powers of investigation and access to a number of civil sanctions. The Act also reforms the commission’s governance so that it will benefit from commissioners with recent experience of politics, and that has been the topic of previous debates on appointing commissioners.
The most significant changes to the Electoral Commission, particularly with regard to its new powers, will commence early in 2010, taking effect from July 2010. We hope to see the commission develop into a more robust and effective regulator, and that presents new challenges. The commission must get to grips with new regulations governing party finance and expenditure at a time when transparency of party finance has been called into question, and has been the subject of much debate in the media.
The 2009 Act also provides for the nomination of commissioners with political experience, and that process is under way—I hope that the new commissioners will be able to take up post soon. Those new commissioners will enhance the commission’s effectiveness by giving it access to recent political experience, and an increased awareness of the environment within which it operates.
Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): As the CV does not do so, will the Minister tell us whether Mr. Hobman has any political experience, affiliations, memberships or other links with any political party?
Barbara Keeley: No, Mr. Hobman is a commissioner in the previous mould. The process for new commissioners with political experience is under way.
Mr. Gray: I quite understand that, but that was not my question. Does Mr. Hobman have any links, connections or experience with any political party?
Barbara Keeley: I do not have that information, but such details have to be declared. It was the case that the commission could not appoint commissioners with political experience, and the change takes effect in January. That was heavily debated by hon. Members, many of whom felt that commissioners should have political experience, although that had been expressly not allowed. The new Act, which commences in January, brings in a change. The new commissioners with political experience are being appointed now, but they would have been expressly not allowed under the previous regime.
If Mr. Hobman’s appointment is approved, he will have a key role to play in the Electoral Commission over the next four years, and I wish him and all commissioners well in their task. I commend the motion to the Committee.
Several hon. Members rose
The Chairman: Order. Before I call the next speaker, I wish to confirm what the Minister said. If Members do not have Mr. Hobman’s CV, copies are available on the table in the room.
4.36 pm
Mr. Shailesh Vara (North-West Cambridgeshire) (Con): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Nicholas. We already have a very good team of commissioners under the leadership of Jenny Watson and I, for my part, have no objections to Anthony Hobman joining that team. His CV clearly shows that he has a record of public service, as well as of holding positions of responsibility. I very much hope that he will be able to add his experience to the commission.
Mr. Hobman joins the commission at an exciting time—when a general election is not too far away, and, as the Deputy Leader of the House mentioned, when politics is held in low esteem by the public. I hope that he and the other commissioners will help in the slow process of trying to ensure that Parliament and all those who work here regain the respect and trust of the public. I wish him and his fellow commissioners well in the task ahead of them.
Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome) (LD) rose—
Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock) (Lab) rose—
The Chairman: I call Andrew Mackinlay.
4.37 pm
Andrew Mackinlay: I hope that the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome will forgive me for trespassing, in that I am not a member of the Committee, by exercising my right to speak. You have generously called me, Sir Nicholas, as you were moving backwards and forwards, but I make no apology for coming to the sitting—
The Chairman: Order. I called the hon. Gentleman because he rose. He has every right to speak, but not to vote if the Committee divides at the end of this debate. I was trying to be fair by calling Members from one side of the Committee and then the other.
Andrew Mackinlay: You are very generous and kind, Sir Nicholas, and I am grateful for being called.
I wanted to attend this debate for a variety of reasons, but first let me make a point that I think I have made in your presence before, Sir Nicholas: the way in which we run this place is a nonsense. If someone is interested in a Committee, they often do not get invited to serve on it, but the Whips will put someone on a Committee that they know nothing about, and with that I will not put up until May, when I leave this place.
I am interested in this subject because the Electoral Commission is obviously with us to stay and is extraordinarily powerful. The Minister herself trespassed into this matter. If we look at the Official Report tomorrow, we will see that she told us about the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009, the role of the commissioners, when the new rules for commissioners will come into force, and the regulatory work that she anticipates that the new commissioners will do. The role of commissioners is terribly important, so when we consider new commissioners, it is fair to ask, among other things, who they are and where they come from.
It is a matter of some irritation that the biography was not available in the Vote Office. I have had the opportunity to speed-read three pages since the start of the sitting, but that is not the way in which to do business. Whoever made these arrangements did so sloppily, because the information should have been available earlier.
I should like to ask the Minister some specific questions. How many hours a month is the prospective appointee, like others, expected to serve over a year? We need some indication of commitment. While I was speed-reading the biography, I wanted to find out whether the gentleman was on any other quangos or had other public duties, which is a legitimate question. There is a culture in this country of people collecting positions on quangos. The arithmetic does not add up for those people. They are either supermen or superwomen, as they cannot do all their roles appropriately, and certainly not for the anticipated number of hours a year stated in the blurb.
In fairness to Anthony Hobman, as far as I can see from the biography, there is nothing to indicate that he has any other public service duties. However, I ask formally whether anybody can tell us whether he has other existing public duties.
Mr. Gray: I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. I was somewhat puzzled by the late arrival of the CV, but, from glancing at it, surely it is the case that Mr. Hobman is still today the chief executive of the Pensions Regulator, which is indeed a public body and for which he is, presumably, working full time.
Andrew Mackinlay: That shows the problem with speed-reading—this is not the way to run things.
Mr. Humfrey Malins (Woking) (Con): If it is of any help to the hon. Gentleman, I understand that the appointments are for four years, with an expected time commitment of about three days a month.
Andrew Mackinlay: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I hope that either he or the Minister can tell us the remuneration for those three days a month.
Mr. Malins: I understand that commissioners are paid a rate of £354 for each day they work. Parliament sets the rate, which is adjusted annually in line with any rise in judges’ pay. The posts are not pensionable.
Andrew Mackinlay: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that information, and to the hon. Member for North Wiltshire, who pointed out that this prospective member of the Electoral Commission is a pensions regulator. I would have thought that that was a pretty burdensome task, yet this person will have to serve the Electoral Commission for about 25 to 30 days a year. I would like some reassurance that the calendar arithmetic adds up and that the role can be carried out.
The post with the Pensions Regulator attracts considerable remuneration—and rightly so—as it is a very skilled job and involves quite a commitment. It is not unreasonable for Parliament to have full disclosure of a person’s remuneration and commitment, particularly as the Electoral Commission is charged with probing and examining that kind of core business. It is the case for other related regulatory bodies that we have set up—the local government standards commissions and so on—so we should be told.
Mr. Parmjit Dhanda (Gloucester) (Lab): My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. I would also be interested to know, as would he, about the diversity of the shortlist, as the commission is obviously interested in issues relating to women and ethnic minorities. How many applicants were there? I do not have any idea from the CV about this guy’s schooling. I appreciate that he is a former bank employee, but the CV does not tell us a great deal more then that. Perhaps the Minister can elaborate a little more. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to know a little more about this person’s background?
 
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Prepared 15 December 2009