Revised draft Electoral Commission Strategy and Policy Statement
Subject to parliamentary approval, the statement will contain guidance that the Electoral Commission must have regard to in discharging its functions.
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To facilitate scrutiny by the UK Parliament of the Electoral Commission’s work, whilst respecting the Commission’s operational independence, sections 4A and 4B of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (‘PPERA’) provided for a power for the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to designate a Strategy and Policy Statement (‘Statement’) for the Commission.
The draft Statement sets out the government’s strategic and policy priorities and the roles and responsibilities of the Commission in enabling the government to meet those priorities, such as the government’s determination to tackle issues such as voter fraud, to improve accessibility of elections and to improve participation. The draft Statement also sets out guidance relating to particular matters in respect of which the Commission has functions.
The Act requires, among other things, the Secretary of State to consider the views of the Electoral Commission, the Speaker’s Committee and the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee on a draft Statement, making any changes the Secretary of State deems necessary, before laying a draft Statement and a report on the government’s response to the consultation before Parliament for representations to be made.
On 22 August 2022, the government published a draft Statement on GOV.UK and wrote to the statutory consultees as well as members of the Parliamentary Parties Panel and other relevant stakeholders to inform them about the start of the statutory consultation. The statutory consultation closed on 20 December 2022.
On 8 June 2023, the government laid before Parliament a document containing the revised draft Strategy and Policy Statement. The document includes the explanation of the Secretary of State’s proposals, those proposals set out in the form of a draft Strategy and Policy Statement and the report that sets out the government’s response to the consultation.
This document has been laid before both Houses for a sixty-day period within which members of both Houses may make representations in relation to the document. The Secretary of State must consider these representations, before preparing the draft Statement for laying for Parliamentary approval. The sixty-day period excludes any period when Parliament is dissolved or prorogued, or when both Houses are not sitting for more than four days. It will end on 14 September 2023. The document has also been deposited in the libraries of both Houses.