Draft European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2013
Draft Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2013
The Committee consisted of the following Members:
† Blenkinsop, Tom (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)
Crouch, Tracey (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con)
† Cryer, John (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)
† Garnier, Mark (Wyre Forest) (Con)
† Hames, Duncan (Chippenham) (LD)
† Heath, Mr David (Somerton and Frome) (LD)
McDonagh, Siobhain (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)
† Neill, Robert (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)
Paisley, Ian (North Antrim) (DUP)
Pearce, Teresa (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)
† Pound, Stephen (Ealing North) (Lab)
† Robathan, Mr Andrew (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office)
Sarwar, Anas (Glasgow Central) (Lab)
† Swayne, Mr Desmond (Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household)
† Walker, Mr Robin (Worcester) (Con)
† Watkinson, Dame Angela (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)
† Wharton, James (Stockton South) (Con)
Eliot Wilson, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee
Fourth Delegated Legislation Committee
Monday 25 November 2013
[Jim Dobbin in the Chair]
Draft European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2013
4.30 pm
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr Andrew Robathan): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2013.
The Chair: With this it will be convenient to consider the draft Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2013.
Mr Robathan: Mr Dobbin, it is a great pleasure to be under your chairmanship. With your permission, I will speak first to the draft order and then to the draft regulations.
The order makes important changes linked to local government reform in Northern Ireland. I have a fairly long set of remarks to cover the extent of what it will do, so I hope the Committee will bear with me.
As Members will be aware, local government in Northern Ireland is undergoing significant reorganisation, part of which involves reducing the number of local councils from 26 to 11 and the number of councillors from 582 to 462. The Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for the reform, but elections to local councils are excepted, so they are the responsibility of the UK Government. The Northern Ireland Executive asked the Government to support the reform by bringing forward the date of the local elections by one year and facilitating a transitional period.
The order makes changes in four main areas. First, it delivers a transitional period. Secondly, it makes temporary changes required only for the 2014 elections. Thirdly, it makes consequential changes to polling districts and places for parliamentary elections. Fourthly, it allows the local election poll to be combined with the European parliamentary poll. I will briefly explain the changes being made in each of those areas.
The order brings forward the date of the next scheduled local election in Northern Ireland by one year, to 22 May next year. The transitional period will run from the fourth day after the election until 31 March 2015. The order provides that the new councils will come into their full powers on 1 April 2015, but they will be able to exercise powers in relation to limited transitional issues in advance of that date. For example, that would include taking decisions on formation of the new councils in relation to rates, debts and standards of service provision. New councillors will remain in office until 2019—four years after receiving full powers. Existing councillors will remain in office until 1 April 2015 and continue to exercise powers in relation to day-to-day management of council business, but not on transitional issues.
The order also introduces some temporary changes, which are required only for the first election of the new councils. The first relates to election expenses. The chief electoral officer for Northern Ireland can normally claim an advance of his local election expenses before the election in the relevant council to allow preparations to be made. Given that the new councils will not exist before the election in 2014, the order makes provision for the statutory transition committees, which have been established by the Northern Ireland Executive, to provide the advance of election expenses before the election and for the new councils to pay the balance after the election.
Secondly, in normal circumstances, the chief executive of each council serves as the deputy returning officer. However, the open competition being run for the chief executive positions in the new councils will not be completed sufficiently far in advance of the election for chief executives to be appointed as deputy returning officers. The order therefore provides for the statutory transition committees to appoint deputy returning officers for the purposes of the 2014 elections, in consultation with the Electoral Commission. The commission’s role is to help ensure that each committee appoints a person with sufficient experience to fulfil the role of deputy returning officer. For example, it may provide committees with advice on the role and functions of deputy returning officers and on the selection criteria used. It will not offer views on the merits of particular candidates.
Thirdly, as Members are aware, the Northern Ireland Assembly has agreed new wards for each local government district. The polling station scheme for local elections needs to reflect that new ward structure. The order therefore requires the chief electoral officer to prepare a new polling station scheme before the elections in 2014. The new scheme will be published after the Secretary of State has laid an order before Parliament grouping the wards into district electoral areas.
The order also makes changes to polling districts and places for elections to this House. Those changes are necessary in consequence of the changes to the local government boundaries. Currently, the polling districts and places for parliamentary elections are those established for local elections. When the chief electoral officer designs a polling station scheme for local elections, the scheme automatically applies to parliamentary elections. However, some of the new local government wards will fall between two parliamentary constituencies. As it will no longer be appropriate to maintain the link between parliamentary polling districts and local government wards, the order makes amendments to allow parliamentary polling districts to be designated by the Secretary of State instead.
The final set of changes made by the order facilitates the combination of local election polls with the European parliamentary election poll, which will be held on the same day. The provisions are practical ones that will ensure that the two polls work together. They include changes such as ensuring that different coloured ballot papers are used for each election and combining the process for issuing postal ballot papers. One change is being introduced in response to a recommendation from the Electoral Commission, whereby the title of the election will be printed on the top of the ballot paper in combined elections to help to avoid voter confusion.
The short set regulations on European parliamentary elections before the Committee today make additional amendments to the European Parliamentary Elections (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2004, principally to allow for the combination of a European parliamentary poll with a local poll. The changes being made by the regulations are equivalent to some of those being made to local elections by the order on local elections, to ensure that polls work together.
I hope the Committee will agree that the regulations and the order are important to support the Northern Ireland Executive’s plans on local government reform and to allow for the efficient combination of polls, and I commend them to the Committee.
4.36 pm
Stephen Pound (Ealing North) (Lab): We agree.
Draft local elections (northern Ireland) Order 2013
That the Committee has considered the draft Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 2013.—(Mr Robathan.)