Draft Electoral Commission Strategy and Policy Statement
Subject to parliamentary approval, the Strategy and Policy Statement will contain guidance that the Electoral Commission must have regard to in discharging its functions.
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Sections 4A-4E of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (as inserted by section 16 of the Elections Act 2022) provide for a Strategy and Policy Statement (‘Statement’), to be approved by the UK Parliament, which will contain guidance and principles which the Electoral Commission will be required to have regard to in the discharge of its functions. The Statement must not contain provisions relating to the Commission’s functions that are within competence of the Scottish Parliament or Senedd Cymru.
The Act requires the Secretary of State to consider the views of the Electoral Commission, the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission (Speaker’s Committee) and the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee via a statutory consultation before submitting the draft Statement for the approval of the UK Parliament.
Today, the government has published the draft Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission and written to all statutory consultees, thus officially launching the statutory consultation on the Statement. This consultation will run until 5 December 2022. We are not seeking the views of members of the public as part of this statutory consultation.
The government has also written to members of the Parliamentary Parties Panel and other relevant stakeholders to inform them of the start of the consultation. A written ministerial statement will be laid before both Houses as soon as reasonably practicable following summer recess and a copy of the draft Strategy and Policy Statement being submitted for statutory consultation will be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.
Following the consultation, the Strategy and Policy Statement will be subject to the approval of the UK Parliament and once in place will allow a greater role for the UK Parliament in scrutinising the Commission, whilst respecting its operational independence.