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Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendment No. 31:
(a) a relevant donation within the meaning of section 62(3) accepted by the party from that person as a donor, or
(b) a relevant transaction entered into by the party and that person as a participant,
and a relevant benefit accrues when it is accepted (if it is a donation) or entered into (if it is a transaction)."
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The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I would have liked to move the amendment formally, but as it is in rather a large group, I should speak to it. In moving the amendment, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 32 to 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 59, 72 and 75.
The amendments return us to an issue to which we gave consideration both on Recommitment and on Report—the gap that existed in respect of disclosure of aggregated loans and donations. The Government are tabling the amendments because there was previously no provision in the Bill to aggregate loans and donations, such that it would have been possible to make a donation of £5,000 and a loan of £5,000 without a requirement for either to be disclosed.
As I said on Report, it would be quite wrong for there to be such a gap. I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, for his original amendment, which usefully highlighted this issue. I undertook to return to your Lordships' House with detailed amendments to tackle this important issue.
6.30 pm
These amendments close that gap. Under them, a requirement to report and to disclose is triggered where donations, regulated transactions, or any combination of donations and regulated transactions from the same permissible donor or authorised participant exceed the reporting threshold.
The amendments adopt the term "relevant benefits" as a composite phrase to refer to something that is either a donation or a regulated transaction. The approach that we have taken is that it should not matter whether or not a donation, or a regulated transaction, or a combination of donations and regulated transactions are made. If the aggregate value of any combination of relevant benefits exceeds the initial reporting threshold of £5,000, or the subsequent reporting threshold of £1,000, a requirement to report is triggered.
The reporting requirements have been kept as simple as possible. We have steered away from creating a complicated new structure and register for the separate reporting of hybrid aggregates. Rather, we have adopted the more straightforward way whereby donations feed into the existing reporting structure for donations and regulated transactions feed into the existing reporting structure for regulated transactions. So, a party must submit a donation report every quarter, which must list all recordable donations. Under the approach adopted by these amendments, it will not matter whether a donation is required to be reported because, first, it exceeds the reporting threshold in its own right, or, secondly, it is required to be reported because, taken with regulated transactions, it exceeds the reporting threshold. In either case, the donation must be entered in the donation report. In the second case, the regulated transaction must also be reported in the transaction report for that quarter.
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To ensure clarity, where a requirement to report is triggered because of an aggregation of donations and loans, this fact must be reported in the respective donation and transaction reports. I beg to move.
Lord Goodhart: My Lords, I am glad that the Government have taken on board this point, which I raised originally. I had a slight bad conscience over it because it has added two or three more pages to what is rapidly becoming a bulky Act of Parliament.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendments Nos. 32 to 48:
Page 68, line 14, leave out "as part of" and insert "together with any other relevant transaction or transactions included in"
Page 68, line 21, leave out from "when" to end of line 23 and insert "a relevant transaction falling within subsection (6A) has been entered into"
"(6A) A relevant transaction falls within this subsection—
(a) if the value of the transaction is more than £1,000, or
(b) if, when it is added to any other relevant benefit or benefits accruing since the time mentioned in subsection (6)(a) or (b), the aggregate amount of the benefits is more than £1,000."
Page 68, line 31, leave out "transaction" and insert "benefit"
Page 68, line 34, leave out "as part of" and insert "together with any other relevant transaction or transactions included in" .
On Question, amendments agreed to.
[Amendment No. 49 had been incorrectly numbered.]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendments Nos. 50 to 54:
"( ) references in section 71M to a relevant benefit did not include references to a relevant donation."
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On Question, amendments agreed to.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendment No. 55:
"(c) in Northern Ireland, the county court."
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 55, I wish to speak also to Amendments Nos. 63 and 64. These amendments fulfil a commitment made by my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor on Recommitment of the Bill on 8 May when he introduced the main tranche of amendments regulating loans to political parties. He said then:
"It will also be necessary to consider the most appropriate means by which to extend the provisions to Northern Ireland. Amendments will be brought forward for that purpose".—[Official Report, 8/5/06; col. 753.]
The regime for loans and other regulated transactions is modelled closely on that for donations which already exists in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, departing from it only where necessary to take account of the different nature of donations and loans. In considering how to apply the new provisions to Northern Ireland we naturally looked at how donations are dealt with there, both currently and in future plans.
As noble Lords will be aware, the donations regime has been disapplied in Northern Ireland since 2000 by orders made under the 2000 Act. However, the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill currently before this House contains provisions which mean that the disapplication of the regime will expire on 31 October 2007. After this point, the permissibility and reporting requirements of the donations regime will apply in Northern Ireland.
However, modifications will be made to that regime. In relation to the reporting requirements, for a transitional period due to end on 31 October 2010—but subject to extension by order—details of donations reported to the Electoral Commission will be held confidentially. A permanent change will also be made to the permissibility requirements. Irish citizens and bodies who can donate to Irish parties will be permitted to donate to political parties in Northern Ireland.
The amendments before us today extend the loans regime to Northern Ireland, but confer an order-making power on the Secretary of State. The order-making power will allow the loans regime to be modified as it applies in Northern Ireland, in a way that allows it to mirror the approach to be adopted in relation to donations as provided for in the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.
As noble Lords will recognise from the loans provisions already in the Electoral Administration Bill, the detail is great and complex. In the case of Northern Ireland further detailed and technical consideration is necessary before the provisions can be finalised. The scope of the order-making power is restricted in that it only allows the Secretary of State
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to make provisions which correspond to, or are similar to, those in the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, and it will, of course, be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Further details have been provided in a memorandum to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.
These are appropriate and necessary amendments to further complete the set of provisions to regulate the giving of loans to political parties. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
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