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Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Fifth Special Report: The Work of the Electoral Commission: Electoral Commission response to the Committee’s Second Report of Session 2022-23

Published 9 March 2023

Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee The Work of the Electoral Commission Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Second Report - The Work of the Electoral Commission.

This is the government's response, published 9 March 2023.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Electoral Commission, responding to the Committee's report, welcomes much of it and says it is "committed to continuous improvement", while setting out where it disagrees or urges caution, including on fixed investigation time limits.

  • On advice response times, from 1 April 2023 it will aim to respond to 90% of email queries within three working days and 100% within five; during the May election period it will aim to respond to all enquiries within three working days, as it is "not confident" its resources allow a faster turnaround on every query.
  • It does not support putting a 12-month limit on investigations in legislation, saying this "risks fettering our discretion". Its draft Enforcement Policy instead proposes an independent review of investigations approaching 12 months, and it intends the new policy to be in place after the May 2023 polls.
  • It says the maximum civil fine of £20,000 "should be raised" to give it greater flexibility, and that a fine of that size is not a proportionate deterrent for serious offences.
  • It says a strategy and policy statement, by which a government can guide its work, is "inconsistent" with the independent role of an electoral commission.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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