Electoral Administration Act 2006 Explanatory Notes

Electoral Administration Act 2006

2006 CHAPTER 22

Commentary on Sections

Part 7: Regulation of parties

Control of donations

Section 59 Reporting donations to members of the House of Commons

307. This section removes the requirement for holders of relevant elective office to report donations to the Electoral Commission (with one exception). Currently all holders of relevant elective office have to report donations to both the Electoral Commission and to the relevant register of members’ interests of the body of which they are a member. This section removes that duplication.

308. Schedule 7 to the 2000 Act establishes the regulatory regime for donations made to individual members of political parties, to members associations and to holders of relevant elective office. The holders of relevant elective office are defined in paragraph 1(8) of Schedule 7 as follows:

• members of the House of Commons;

• members of the European Parliament;

• members of the Scottish Parliament;

• members of the National Assembly for Wales;

• members of the Northern Ireland Assembly;

• members of local authorities and the Greater London Assembly;

• the Mayor of London and elected mayors (the latter as defined in Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000).

309. Donations have to be reported to the Electoral Commission. This is in the interests of transparency and accountability and follows the recommendations made by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Neill Committee, in 1998. This section removes the requirement of Schedule 7 for holders of relevant elective office to have to report donations. The Electoral Commission will retain responsibility with respect to the permissibility of donations.

310. Subsection (2) amends paragraph 10 of Schedule 7. It removes the requirement for all holders of relevant elective office to report donations to the Electoral Commission, unless the person in question is, first, not a member of a political party and, secondly, either a Member of the Scottish Parliament or a member of a local authority in Scotland. It does not matter in what capacity the donation is received (whether in his capacity as a member of a political party or in his capacity as an office holder). In either case the reporting requirement is removed.

311. Subsection (3) provides that where the Electoral Commission think that the arrangements of the relevant register for members’ interests correspond to the reporting requirement for donations imposed by Schedule 7, paragraph 10, they must maintain a register of such information as they receive about such donations.

312. Subsection (4) means that the Secretary of State may not make a commencement order to allow this measure to come into force (and, accordingly, remove the reporting requirement) unless he is informed by the Electoral Commission that they are satisfied that they will receive information about donations which corresponds to that required to be reported under Schedule 7, paragraph 10.