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Lord Browne-Wilkinson: My Lords, can the noble Baroness confirm that disclosure by the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise can be made in relation to any crime—not just serious crime, but any crime—and if so, what is the justification?
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, it is right that disclosure would have to be relevant to the crime and pertinent in satisfying certain elements of it. I am not able to tell your Lordships precisely, but I believe that these powers are used only in relation to very serious matters. I can write to the noble and learned Lord with clarification.
He referred to various figures but I am unable to respond to them either in relation to their accuracy or to say whether there are other contextual issues which would put them into a different light. I therefore hope that the noble and learned Lord will forgive me for not being able to deal with the matter as he might want.
My noble friend Lady Hayman asked whether detainees can leave and expressed her discomfort about them being set at large. I was trying to explain why that is understood and the work we are trying to do carefully with our partners to address that issue.
The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Rochester raised the knotty issue of hate crime. The Government will consider whether the existing system of aggravated offences could be improved, but have not identified earlier opportunities for reform in the legislative programme to date. We remain attracted in principle to introducing an offence of incitement to religious hatred, analogous to the existing offence of incitement to racial hatred. We will listen most carefully to those views before reaching any decision.
The noble Earl, Lord Northesk, asked about the voluntary regime and its success. The public sector wanted the element of compulsion to justify disclosure, and the policy interests were clear. We will certainly give consideration to the noble Earl's comments.
I turn to the issues raised by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd. Various comments were made about the discussion paper, which asks for suggestions about possible new offences, as I hope I have outlined. The noble Lord, Lord Carlile, suggests a broadly-drawn offence that acts preparatory to terrorism, and the Government must consider whether that assists in filling the gap. We will take into account the other comments made today by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, in relation to those other offences. We are looking at both ideas and at what other countries do; for instance, the French offence of association with a wrong-doer. We will follow that suggestion, together with many others.
The noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, also asked about Section 17 of RIPA. Material on which these decisions are held comes from a variety of sources. It
is not simply the intercept material and it would be wrong to assume that relaxation of intercept answers the problems entirely. Regrettably, it does not. I am not able to give your Lordships the precise nature of all the evidence held in relation to each of the 14 persons. I am sure that the noble and learned Lord understands why that is so.I turn to the noble and learned Lord's able pupil, the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford. He raised the issue of insufficient case management. We do not accept the criticism made by the committee in terms of the individual management of cases. The first tranche of individual appeals took longer to come before SIAC because of the legal challenges made by the appellants to the derogation that had first to be heard. In preparation for the individual appeals each of the cases was considered. That included the threat posed by the individual and the ability to deport, as well as any other changes in circumstances.
The individual cases are kept actively under review. One individual has subsequently been convicted on criminal charges and another is currently being prosecuted. Both cases were based on evidence that came to light after certification. The first set of reviews will therefore start in April. These will be the first reviews six months after the determination of appeals. The reviews then have to be conducted at three-monthly intervals. All the information, as well as any new information on the detainees, including a threat assessment and any changes that have been made to ability to remove, will be reassessed.
I come next to the noble Lord, Lord Lester. I hope that many of the issues he raised have already been covered in my comments and that he will take that as an answer. If I find that there are other matters that I have not covered, I undertake to write to any noble Lord to whom I have been so discourteous as not to answer.
My noble friend Lady Whitaker rightly raised the whole issue of Part 12, its efficacy and the need to retain it unless and until we replace it with something else. I can give her the assurance that she seeks. The Government have no intention of repealing Part 12 until such time as a new corruption Act is in force. I hope that I have said that with sufficient clarity for her to feel comforted.
The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, then raised several issues. I hope that he and the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, will find that the comments I made earlier are a proper response to them.
This has been a testing issue and we will have an opportunity to answer many of the points more fully next week when we discuss Part 4. I therefore hope that noble Lords will find it appropriate that I have concentrated mainly on the other issues. I shall write to noble Lords in relation to any other matters that I have failed to address in full.
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Election 2004) Order 2004
3.27 p.m.
The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker) rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 29 January be approved [7th Report from the Joint Committee].
The noble Lord said: My Lords, with this order, we are debating the four subsequent election regulations on the Order Paper. The instruments represent necessary and important legislation to ensure the effective running of this year's elections. They are highly technical and they do not vary current practice too much. They simplify existing legislation covering combined elections.
On 6 May last year, the Government announced a further step towards convenience for voters as part of our process for modernising elections—our intention to move the date of the English local authority and the Greater London Authority elections to the date of the European parliamentary elections so that all the 2004 elections would be combined together on the same day.
The five instruments before the House today form part of the package of the secondary legislation that provides for the proper conduct of the European elections and those that will or may be combined with them in 2004 in line with our stated aim. Before I give some background on each instrument, there are a number of important points that your Lordships will want to note.
First, combined elections are not new. Provision already exists for different types of elections to be combined. The Government are not fundamentally changing election practice. I should add that the legislation before us today has nothing whatever to do with the election pilots being considered elsewhere. The Government would like to see combined elections in 2004, and today we are debating the mechanics of bringing that about.
In preparation for these instruments, the Government have undertaken extensive consultation. In late 2002, the majority of those responding to our consultation paper were in support of combining elections in 2004. Late last year, draft instruments were the subject of both public and statutory consultation. In short, the policy and subsequent instruments before the House today are the result of significant consultation with the Electoral Commission and other stakeholders. A summary paper of the responses that we received and our reaction was placed in the Library of the House on 12 February. I can assure noble Lords that revisions and amendments to take account of those responses have been made, where appropriate.
Lastly, by way of introduction, the life of a returning officer has not always been helped by existing legislation. Combined elections have traditionally been governed by rules set out in slightly different ways in a multitude of different legislative instruments. We are taking this opportunity to simplify matters and to bring all the key rules together under one consistent set of instruments.
I now turn briefly to the details of each of the five instruments before us. The European Parliamentary Elections (Appointed Day of Poll) Order 2004—Statutory Instrument 217—has already been made by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and specifies the date of the United Kingdom's European parliamentary elections as 10 June. Your Lordships will already be aware that the time period within which those elections must be held is set by unanimous agreement of all the member states.
The Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Election 2004) Order 2004 moves the date of elections to local authorities in England and the Greater London Authority from 6 May to the date of the European parliamentary elections, which, as I have just indicated, is 10 June. The order also provides for consequential amendments that arise as a result of the date change. It amends the following: the term of office of councillors; the six-month period during which it is not necessary to hold a by-election; the timing of annual and parish meetings; and other matters that relate to the moving of that date.
Your Lordships will also wish to know that on 3 February the National Assembly for Wales, which has responsibility for local government in Wales, approved a similar order to move the date of the Welsh local authority elections from 6 May to, again, 10 June—the date of the European parliamentary elections.
The European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004 revoke the European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 1999 and make provision for the conduct of those elections in Great Britain and, for the first time, in Gibraltar. While the regulations provide largely for similar arrangements to those used in 1999—the date of the last European parliamentary elections—a number of significant changes are also being proposed. These regulations are necessary because those which governed the 1999 European parliamentary elections require amendment to take account of changes that we have since made to the law in this country relating to parliamentary and local elections. They are also necessary in order to implement recommendations made in a post-European parliamentary election review by the Home Office.
While those regulations largely reflect existing provisions or changes resulting from other new legislation and government reviews, there are some new provisions which your Lordships will wish to know about briefly. In line with the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003, the draft regulations make certain provisions enabling the people of Gibraltar to vote in EU elections for the first time.
Provisions regarding absent voting are updated in the draft regulations to apply changes in absent voting arrangements at parliamentary and local elections which have been implemented since the last European parliamentary elections. That will make postal voting easier. Reflecting the provisions in other legislation, the regulations will operate in relation to combined elections, allowing for combined applications for absent votes.
The regulations take account of the registration of accession-state citizens. Ten further states are expected to be part of the European Union by the time of the European parliamentary elections on 10 June. Provision is therefore being made for citizens of those states who are resident in the UK to be able to vote in the elections. The majority of the necessary provisions have already been set out in other secondary legislation, but modifications are needed to the European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004 and the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 in order to complete the picture.
I mentioned that the regulations took account of changes in other new UK legislation and government reviews, and I shall briefly set out some of those changes. The making of a false statement in nomination papers will constitute a corrupt practice. The publication of exit polls before close of poll will become an offence, liable to fine or imprisonment. References to controls on the campaign expenditure of political parties are being removed as that issue is now covered by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. However, individual candidates' expenditure will still be covered by the regulations.
Amendments to controls on broadcasting are also being reflected. There is the provision of devices to assist voters who are physically impaired or unable to read. There is provision for postal ballot papers to be returned by hand, if wished, to the appropriate polling stations. Rules on admission to polling stations will include access for Electoral Commission observers—the Electoral Commission having a statutory duty to evaluate the European parliamentary elections. The rules will allow the counting of votes to start before close of poll across the European Union. However, no results may be made available until after close of poll across Europe. Ballot papers will be designed vertically rather than, as in 1999, horizontally so as to make them easier for electors to use.
I shall now deal with the remaining instruments which form part of the package before your Lordships' House. The draft Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004 revoke and replace the Representation of the People Regulations 1986. They largely update and clarify the current provisions governing returning officer functions at combined elections and they consolidate existing provisions relating to referendums concerning local authority executive arrangements and mayoral elections. However, there are some modifications specifically in connection with combining European parliamentary and local government elections in 2004.
With regard to the functions of returning officers, Regulations 4, 5 and 6 of the new draft regulations make similar provisions to the 1986 regulations concerning the functions of individual returning officers at each election where polls are to be combined, their funding and the polling stations to be used when polls are combined.
The provisions now expressly take account of the possibility of the combination of more than two polls—for example, where a local parish election is also combined with the European parliamentary and local government
elections. Regulation 8 and Schedule 2 update existing provisions for the combination of a parliamentary general or by-election with other polls, including mayoral elections or referendums concerning local authority executive arrangements. These regulations also include significant changes which apply in 2004 only.Draft Regulation 7 and Schedule 1 include particular provisions specifically relating to the European parliamentary election, Greater London Authority elections and other local government elections which are to be held on the same date in 2004—that is, 10 June.
The Greater London returning officer is to be the returning officer for the London European parliamentary electoral region, assisted by a designated deputy. That capitalises on the fact that the Greater London Authority and the European parliamentary London region cover the same geographical area.
In 1999, the European parliamentary elections were arranged and votes were counted on the basis of Westminster parliamentary constituency boundaries. However, in 1999 they were not held in combination with local government elections. As a result of a request from electoral administrators and views received from its first consultation, the Government propose in the draft regulations that this year's European parliamentary elections should be arranged, and votes counted, on the basis of local government areas instead of the Westminster parliamentary constituencies. If that provision were not included, so-called combined local authority and European parliamentary elections would, in fact, each have to be run quite differently, often according to non-contiguous boundaries. That would lead to a confusing patchwork and would probably make a nonsense of holding everything on the same date.
As a consequence of this decision, the returning officer for each local authority area will exercise the functions of the local returning officer, under the direction of European parliamentary regional returning officers for each area, instead of the acting returning officers for parliamentary constituencies in 1999. For the convenience of voters we are providing for the sending out and the return of all ballot papers together, including one single declaration of identity to cover all the ballot papers that a voter receives.
With reference to the Greater London Authority election booklet, under regulation 7(7), the Greater London returning officer will be able to include a limited amount of information about European parliamentary election voting procedures in such a booklet. It is reasonable for the European parliamentary elections to be mentioned in the Greater London Authority "election addresses" booklet but that information should not dominate what is essentially an opportunity for London mayoral candidates to address voters. However, the booklet is not available to other regions in the country—it is specific to London—and that is why the European parliamentary issue should not dominate, so that people in one region have different information compared with the rest of the country.
For London there is provision for the electronic counting of votes in the 2004 European parliamentary election, when the Greater London Authority election is
also counted electronically. That is not new. London had experience of counting Greater London Authority votes electronically in 2000, and is expected to count electronically in 2004, so it is logical that they be allowed to count the European parliamentary votes electronically at the same time.Your Lordships will know that the Government have given local people choice about how they wish to be governed locally. Neither the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 nor the Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 change that policy. We do not expect any electoral referendums for mayors or elections in June, but we cannot rule them out. So, these regulations provide for the eventuality that either a referendum or a mayoral election could be combined with other polls in June or in the future. That is to ensure consistency of provisions with other polls.
I do not propose to go into all the provisions of the regulations here, but noble Lords may be interested to note that they provide for: postal ballot papers which are returned by hand to be returned to a polling station within the area common to all the elections being combined; for example, in the parish area where parish, district and European parliamentary election are combined; and they clarify that in accordance with common law, a personal mark which the elector is accustomed to make will suffice where a signature is required on a form.
The Electoral Commission and other stakeholders have, in their responses to our consultation, given many useful and practical comments which have been taken into account in the final draft versions of the package of statutory instruments which are now before the House. This secondary legislation will enable this year's local government, Greater London Authority and European parliamentary elections to be properly conducted, and will implement the Government's decision to combine elections in England and Wales in 2004. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 29 January be approved [7th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Rooker.)
3.45 p.m.
Baroness Hanham: My Lords, I thank the Minister for giving a brief but reasonably comprehensive overview of this package of regulations. It will not have escaped his notice that we have never been totally in favour of having all these elections together. We still believe that there is likely to be confusion. Although the regulations are the same, there are different aspects to all the elections and how they take place. None the less, that is happening now and it is clear, from the fact that so many regulations have had to be produced to bring them together, that it is not entirely an easy matter.
I do not want to refer to any of the regulations in particular, except to comment on one or two aspects of those relating to local elections and the mayoral elections and then I shall turn to the European one. In relation to citizens of the new states that will join the European Union on 1 May, can the Minister advise the House—I
should know the answer to this so I apologise—whether when the electoral canvass was carried out last year it was made clear that this was coming and therefore people were entitled to put their names on the electoral register and were entitled to recognise that they would be able to vote in the elections? If not, this is very late in the day to be advising citizens of the new European states who are in this country that they will be able to vote in those elections. Perhaps the Minister could answer that point.I welcome the fact that exit polls will not be published before the close of polls. That is long overdue. Such publication has had a dramatic effect in many places and the legislation has been required for some time. I welcome that.
What I had not picked up when I read the regulations was that the counting of votes will start before the close of polls. That is most unusual. Perhaps I misunderstood what the Minister said.
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