Minutes of the meeting of the Electoral Commission held on Wednesday 20 June 2012 at 1.30 pm

Transcription

1 Classification: Agenda Item no.3 (a) Minutes of the meeting of the Electoral Commission held on Wednesday 20 June 2012 at 1.30 pm Present: In attendance Jenny Watson (JW) Chair Anna Carragher (AC) John Horam (JH) David Howarth (DH) Ian Kelsall (IK) Lord Kennedy (RK) John McCormick (JMc) Rt Hon George Reid (GR) Peter Wardle (PW) Carolyn Hughes (CH) Alex Robertson (AR) Andrew Scallan (AS) Bob Posner (BP) Kairen Zonena (KZ) Natalie Birtle (NB) item 6 Ann Blackmore (AB) all Kay Jenkins (KJ) by videoconference, item 7 Andy O Neill (AON) by videoconference, item 7 Sarah Mackie (SM) by videoconference, item 7 Adrian Fryer (AF) by videoconference, item 7 Tony Stafford (TS) items 7 and 8 Vicky Fox (VF) items 7 and 8 Kate Engles (KE) items 7 and 8 Corinne Leong (CL) item 7 Lucy Calderwood (LC) item 7 Karim Aziz (KA) item 7 William Reburn (WR) item 7 Tom Hawthorn (TH1) item 7b The Chair congratulated GR on being awarded a knighthood in the Queen s Birthday Honours. 1

2 1 Apologies Max Caller and Tony Hobman Declaration of Interestss The declarations of interestt reproduced in paragraphs 2.22 to 2.5 below, all of which relate too Board item 7 were made at this meeting. JW had worked for f the organisation Charter 88, during which time Charter 88 Scotland had been involved in the Scottish S Constitutional Convention and campaigne ed in favour of a Scottish Parliament. DH had stood forr election on a manifesto which supportedd devolution. RK had taken the Labour Whip. GR said that he had twice been elected as an SNP S MP and twice as an SNP MSP. He had been a member of the Yes campaign boards in both the 1979 and 1997 Scottish referendums. When elected Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament in 2003 he was requiredd to give up all party allegiance, a position he had maintained ever e since.. When nominated by the First Minister to the Electoral Commission, he had exchanged letters making clear that he would not be an SNP delegate but would try to ensure thatt the party s position was fully represented. The Independence Referendum should s be fair, clear, and conducted along the lines of the general principles developed by the Electoral Commission. 3a Minutes of 23 May (EC 48/12) Agreed: That the minutes of the Commission Board B meeting held on 23 May 2012 be approved as an accurate record and the Chair be authorised to sign them. 3b. Decision/Action trackerr (EC 49/12) Noted that JH had joined the Complete and Accurate Registers reference group. Noted. 2

3 4 Update from Chief Executive for June (EC 50/12 plus TABLED Annex C on electoral integrity activities) a Programme 1 Electionss and Referendums Paras , and Annex C electoral fraud prevention activities the various activities, current and planned, beingg undertaken with electoral servicess staff, police, political parties and individual MPs were noted. Proposals for an electoral fraud risk assessment and vulnerabilities review wouldd be submitted to the 25 July Board meeting. Para PCC electionss and public awareness - the Home Office appeared to be consideringg again its approach to t a public awareness campaign for these elections, possibly in the light of reported concerns about the likely turnout. Thee Commission s guidance would be published in July.. Para National Park Authorities (England) - election pilots AS reported that the Department for Environme nt, Food and Rural Affairs was considering its original timetable for pilot elections in May An announcement before the summer recess was likely. Programme 2 Electoral Registration 4.4 Paras Individual Electoral Registration there continued to be encouragingg progresss with IER, although the t detail of how the government saw Commission s role had yet to emerge e (para 2.6). JW had, at her meeting with Mark Harper MP, Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform on 133 June, raised once again a the need for clarity on the Commission ss role in relation to IER, which he noted and undertook to come back on. In addition to the other issuess she raised (which had been flagged in her letter to the Minister at Annex B to the Update) JW conveyed our disappointment at being described as complacent on electoral fraud by government, and set out for the Minister our current and planned activity to prevent it. Programme 3 Legislation, Modernisation and a Change 4.5 Para 3..6 performance standards in Northern Ireland it was noted that introduction of performance standards in Northern Ireland on a trial t basis was still under discussion. Para 3.7 Law Commissi ion review of electoral law the Law Commission had now issued its consultation paper on thee planned scope of the review, which would be circulated to Commissioners in the next information pack. The Commission would be responding 3

4 positively and activity was also focussed on encouraging awarenesss and support. The suggestion by DH that the Laww Commission hold a meeting of interested academics would be taken forward with them.. Agreed: That:- (a) The Law Commission ss consultation document on its review of electoral law be sent to Commissioners for information; and (b) Briefing material on performance standards for Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers be circulated to Commissioners for information Chair s and Chief Executive s external meetings (EC 51/12) JW commented on a meeting she had had with Baroness Jay since the paper had been produced, on steps being takenn in support of an amendment on close of poll. Noted. 6. PEF cases oral update NB gave a brief overview update on current cases, which going and confidential. Noted. 7 Referendums were on- 7(a) Regulation of campaign ning at a Scottish referendum (EC 52/12 plus TABLED slide presentation) LK introduced the paper. The referendum period recommendedd to governments byy the Commission based on previous experience wass a minimum of 16 weeks prior to the date of a referendum. This had informed the Scottish Government s proposal for a 16-week regulatedd period. However, some campaigners in Scotland had already begun to campaign well in advance of any legislation to regulatee donationss or spending beyond those applying to political parties. During discussions Commissioners made the following points: 4

5 The Scottish Government s proposal on thee referendum period had been informed by the Commission s previous recommendation made in our report following the 2011 referendums Noting recent events, including the launch of campaigns for and against independence, there was still a highh degree of uncertainty over how legislation would be taken forward, what thee timetablee for it would be and what the question (and therefore the shape of campaigning) would be. The Commission Board B was not aversee to considering the t need for a longer referendum period, but believed it would be premature to argue for a changee at this point. Likely future developments (such as the publication of the Scottish Government s consultation responses in September, and/or the possible emergence of f a second question) would provide opportunities for furtherr comment and inputt by the Commission. Meanwhile, there t was scope for the Commission to take soundings from others on the referendum period, and to make them aware, if asked, that itt was under observation TS introduced the slide presentation on optionss for a voluntary arrangement for referendum campaigners in thee period before the referendum period began. While the idea off a voluntary framework to provide transparency for voters was not dismissed, there was general concern thatt if the Commission promoted such a framework this would w raisee unrealistic expectations which could not be met, since people would expect us to have the power to regulate and enforce the agreement. The overall effect could be to reduce voters trustt in the arrangement. If another body were prepared to co-ordinate such an initiative, the voluntary nature of any such arrangements would be more clearly understoodd and less likely to lead to confused expectations. Agreed: That:- (a) The Commission shouldd not recommend a longer referendum period than 16 weeks att this point, while noting that this should be kept under review in thee light of developments including the publication of consultation responses; and (b) No steps be taken by the Commission on promoting voluntary arrangements for campaigners in the period before thee referendum period. 5

6 7(b) Roles requiring Board engagement in preparing for the Scottish referendum, and Update on potential for House of Lords reform eferendum (EC 53/12) This paper rehearsed the decisions that would have h to bee made by the Board on question assessment, referendum spending limits, designation of lead campaigners, and potentially on grants to lead campaigners, and the process and timing for all these. The paper also provided an update on the House of Lords Reform Bill. On question assessment, Commissioners were concernedd to know that there would be sufficient time built into the process for proper testing, against a range of differentt scenarioss (staggered questions, amended questions), and that the timetable should be flexible enough to allow for all the possibilities to be fully tested. The Commission s questionn assessment would incorporate any relevant research on national and international comparators, and if international comparators were few, or not very relevant, we would say as much. PW noted that thee process of asking prospective campaigners, politicians and other interested people for their views on the question wording (paragraph 4.6, third bullet) encompassed a larger constituency of interested parties for the Scottish referendum than previously, and would involve more work, which w needed to be factored in. He also noted that it would be important that the Commission was able to explain and if necessary defend,, in detail, the methodology that underpinned question assessment. The section of the paper onn House of Lords reform was noted, and JW said that if during the passage of the Bill an amendment introduced a referendum and therefore t a combination of polls, it mightt be necessary for the Board to be convened at short notice in order to consider this issue. Agreed: That the report bee noted and the proposed question assessment process be reviewed in the light of the various questions and scenarios raised duringg the discussion, bearing in mind the potential complexity of this referendum, to ensure that they were robust. 6

7 Party funding reform r (EC 54/12 plus TABLED slide presentation) LK and TS introduced the slide presentation, which outlined how the Commission s principles off trust, participation and a no undue influence might apply to potential outcomes from the current party talks on party funding reforms in order to explore what view, if any, the Commission might want to adopt beyondd commenting on thee workability of proposals. It was agreed that where the Commission commented onn proposalss for change, Commissioners wanted where possiblee to assesss whether they were consistent with its principles as well as a whetherr they weree workable since this was ann issue of concern to voters. It was agreed that a donation cap could be consistent withh the Commission s principles provided that it was fair and effective. At this stage it was too difficult to apply the Commissio on s principles in the round. This would require further considerationn of the final proposals that emerged from the current talks. It was alsoo noted that the interests of those parties not involved in the talks, and other stakeholders, would have to be considered, as well as thee impact which the proposals might have on different parties. JW suggested additional and separate discussions between CommissionC ners and staff around some of the t points raised during debate, if helpful. Further consideration of a principles-based back to the Board for further decision in response to the proposals in the round would be brought due course, possibly by over the summer if needed. Agreed: That:- (a) Commission staff wouldd monitor developme nts on party funding and continue to intervene onn workability issues as a needed; ; and (b) Further work be carried out on a principles-b based approach to proposed changes to party funding once concrete proposals had emerged from the party y funding talks, and be brought back to the Board for consideration and decision. 9 Draft minutes of the Remuneration and HR Committee of 21 May ( EC 55/12) Noted. 7

8 10 Meeting wash-up (Commissioners only) The meeting ended at 3.55 pm. Chair 8