Recommendation 14

The functional standards include advisory elements. Organisations can choose to either comply with them or explain why they have not complied with them.29 The Ministry of Justice told us that this approach is probably more weighted towards “comply” than “explain”.30 It noted that more openness on when certain types of organisations do not need to follow specific standards would be helpful, for instance through examples or frameworks for decision-making.31 A submission from the Electoral Commission stated that the “comply or explain” approach does not always allow for flexibility or relevance, and proposed that smaller organisations be provided with more discretion to assess which requirements are relevant to them and to prioritise meeting those requirements.32