Kevin Hollinrake

The Commission’s guidance for political parties covers permissibility of donations from companies and unincorporated associations. If an organisation makes a donation on behalf of another source without disclosing the details of the original donor, this is likely to be an agency offence. The law places a responsibility on the recipient of a donation to ensure they are satisfied as to the identity of the donor, and that the donor is permissible

A company is a permissible donor if it is registered as a company at Companies House, is incorporated in the UK, and is carrying on business in the UK. An unincorporated association is permissible if it has more than one member, the main office is in the UK, and it is carrying on business or activities in the UK.

The Commission has highlighted that it remains possible for money from foreign sources to enter the UK electoral system, including through companies and unincorporated associations. There are no requirements for unincorporated associations to check that gifts they receive are from permissible sources, or on how company donations are funded. It has called for changes to ensure the system protects against foreign interference.

Each government, through the appropriate parliament, sets the spending limits for each relevant election. The Commission provides advice on the potential impact of any changes to the spending limits, and if necessary, consent. Any changes should be supported by rigorous analysis of relevant data and evidence to understand the likely impacts on parties and candidates, to maintain a level playing field, and on transparency and voter confidence. The Commission will monitor how recent changes made by governments function and their impact at the elections in 2026.

It is the role of individual parliaments to ratify their respective spending limits. The Commission offers proactive advice to the regulated community to ensure parties, campaigners and candidates understand the spending rules they must follow. It will update its guidance to reflect any changes.

The Electoral Commission provides guidance for all political parties. The guidance states that any service – including research – provided to a party for free or on non-commercial terms is a donation. If the market value is above £500, the donor must be permissible, and if the value is above the reporting threshold (£11,180 for donations to central parties, or £2,230 for donations to accounting units or subsequent donations from the same source), it must also be reported to the Commission.

If the party pays for the service, it would not be a donation.

The Supreme Court Judgment was clear that for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, biological sex determines whether a person is a woman or not. Accordingly, in relation to the Equality Act 2010’s provisions allowing political parties to use all-women shortlists to increase the number of women standing for election, parties will need to have regard to the recent ruling. A political party wishing to use these Equality Act provisions will need to be satisfied that any such shortlists are lawful.

We regularly consult stakeholders, including the Equality and Human Rights Commission, on a range of issues, including where new guidance is proposed.

The Commission published a statement on 2 June on the day of publication of the report, welcoming the insights gathered by the Speaker’s Conference and their proposal for cross-cutting solutions.

The Commission is looking at how we can support implementation of the report’s proposals, in partnership with the wider electoral community, and how to improve our support for candidates and campaigners ahead of elections next May.

All votes are mixed for counting so it is not possible to distinguish the proportion of valid votes cast by post or proxy.

The Commission has published data, where provided by Returning Officers, on the proportion of postal votes included in counts and the number of proxies appointed.

191,338 overseas voters registered for the 2024 general election. Half (49%) of all registered overseas voters registered for a postal vote. The Commission does not collect data on how many overseas voters applied to vote by proxy.

The Commission’s guidance on permissibility of donations includes information on cryptocurrencies. The guidance states that the same legal requirements apply to donations received in cryptocurrencies as any other donations. Parties must ensure that they obtain donors’ details, so they can check permissibility. As with other types of assets, parties must report the value in pounds at the time of the donation.

The Commission will continue to review its guidance and support for parties to ensure that they are aware of how the law applies to cryptocurrency donations.

Due to the secrecy of the ballot, it is not possible to distinguish if a valid vote was cast by an overseas elector.

The Commission has published data, where it could be provided by Returning Officers, on the proportion of overseas electors issued with a postal vote and the percentage that were returned by close of poll. It does not hold data on the number of overseas electors who chose to cast their vote by proxy or in person.

A government department is not a permissible donor. However, political parties can receive public funds from government departments. The Commission’s guidance on permissibility states that any payment received by a political party out of public funds is regarded as received by a permissible donor. Parties must report these payments if above the reporting threshold.

In 2020-21 the franchise was extended to allow qualifying foreign nationals resident in Wales to vote in Senedd and local elections.

The Electoral Commission’s role is to provide voters with the information they need to take part in elections. As part of this work ahead of the 2021 Senedd election, it translated resources into the five most commonly spoken foreign languages in Wales. This was intended to support newly enfranchised voters to participate in the election, and is in line with the Welsh Government’s approach to translation of resources for voters.

During the period in question, the total number of questions tabled was 60,136, of which 11,654 were carded because they did not comply with the rules of order. The vast majority of card queries are resolved quickly when the hon. Member who tabled the question contacts the Table Office to discuss it. There is, however, a growing backlog of carded questions in cases where hon. Members have tabled questions but have not responded to the card note.

It is not possible to provide a party breakdown of the proportion of questions carded.

The Table Office is happy to offer training to hon. Members and their staff on the rules of order and the drafting of orderly WPQs.

The Church Commissioners do not disclose details of restricted companies due to commercial sensitivity.
As stated in the answer issued in UIN 52266 on 20th May, the Church Commissioners have a process where they may restrict companies which are considered to cause, contribute to or are linked to human rights risks and impacts. In conflict-affected and high-risk areas, the Church Commissioners note the heightened risks of human rights harms and take this into account when screening their portfolios. The Pensions Board, as a separate legal entity, takes a similar approach.

The Electoral Commission does not hold data on the average cost to local authorities for holding elections. Local authorities are responsible for managing the costs of elections within their area and hold their own local data. The cost of conducting UK parliamentary elections is paid for by the UK Government through the Consolidated Fund, while local elections are paid for directly from the individual local authority budgets.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) produces a report on the costs of each UK parliamentary general election, including a breakdown of costs by category, such as staff costs and equipment. The report for the 2024 UK parliamentary general election will be published in due course.

While hon. Members alone have the right to table questions, the Table Office routinely deals with Members’ staff, acting with the authority of their Member, about the tabling and drafting of questions, as part of the Office’s responsibility to ensure that questions adhere to the rules of order and practices of the House.

Most issues concerning the drafting of questions are resolved quickly, but where it is not possible to do so with a member of staff, the Table Office will ask to deal directly with the Member concerned. This reflects the fact that responsibility for tabling questions resides with the hon. Member personally and ensures that the Table Office’s resources are used in an effective manner.

The total proportion of written parliamentary questions carded in this Session of Parliament because they do not comply with the rules of order is just over 19%. Most card queries are resolved quickly by a conversation with the tabling Member. The Table Office offers training to hon. Members and their staff on the rules of order and the drafting of orderly WPQs.

The National Church Institutions do not have a policy of supporting boycotts or divestments related to Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Church Commissioners’ and the Church of England Pensions Board’s approaches are individually informed by the Ethical Investment Advisory Group, with neither institution implementing an automatic divestment policy for companies connected to Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board each implement a Human Rights policy, in line with which they independently screen holdings for corporate human rights risks in their distinct portfolios and run a Controversies Process. This includes reviewing companies that are alleged to cause, contribute to, or are linked to human rights risks and impacts. Each Fund looks at companies on a case-by-case basis and engages with companies that fail their controversy screens, which can lead to exclusions.

The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board each apply this approach across their separate portfolios. In conflict-affected and high-risk areas, each Fund notes the heightened risks of human rights harms and takes this into account when screening their portfolios.

The Commission provided responses to 178 FOI requests between 4 July 2024 and 14 May.

A copy of the response to each FOI request submitted to the Commission can be found on its website at www.electoralcommission.org.uk/about-us/freedom-information .

The Electoral Commission assesses each request under the FOI Act individually. The Act allows certain exemptions to be applied when considering requests, including an exemption for information that is reasonably by other means. Candidate returns are available on request from local authorities for two years for the date of receipt.

The Commission takes a range of factors into account when considering disclosure of candidate spending returns. The Commission has previously released a number of redacted individual candidate spending returns under FOI after the two-year period or where the return was not available from the Returning Officer.

The Electoral Commission responded to the internal review request on 30 April.

The Electoral Commission has not made any requests to Companies House under the provisions in the Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023.

The Commission regularly assesses the impact of legislation on its work, including the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024. The Act makes a number of changes to electoral law in Wales, including the establishment of an Electoral Management Board, new provisions on voter registration, powers for a wider range of electoral innovation pilots, and alignment with legislation for reserved elections in some areas such as accessibility, undue influence, and notional expenditure.

The Commission has been working with the Welsh Government and the wider electoral community to ensure that changes to elections in Wales are delivered successfully. It will develop updated guidance and resources for electoral administrators, campaigners and voters to reflect the changes that are being introduced. The Commission also has a duty to evaluate any pilots that are held in Wales.

The Commission regularly accesses data published by Companies House as part of its work enforcing political finance laws. It will make decisions on requests for additional data as appropriate to its enforcement work.

The Commission’s guidance for candidates states that items provided for free or at a non-commercial discount with a value of £50 or less are not regarded in law as notional spending. They do not need to be recorded on a candidate’s spending return or counted towards their spending limit.

The Commission’s guidance on candidate spending laws explains that reasonable expenses relating to the protection of persons or property, such as hiring security, do not count as candidate spending. It therefore does not need to be declared on a candidate’s spending return.

The Electoral Commission does not release candidate spending returns under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Representation of the People Act 1983 requires returning officers to make candidate spending returns available for two years. As such, spending returns are considered reasonably accessible by other means, and so are exempt from disclosure by the Commission under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act.

As set out in the King’s Speech in July, the government is committed to making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people. This measure will be part of the upcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.

In delivering this commitment, we are giving close consideration on how to make the equal pay scheme work better for everyone. This will include any potential impact of changes to the equal pay scheme on local authorities.

To understand the challenges and find the appropriate solutions in developing this policy, we launched a 12 week call for evidence on a number of areas of equality law on April 7, which will close on 30 June.

The Government is committed to commencing the Equality Act 2010’s provision requiring registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selections.

Officials are exploring options to take to commence the provisions under section 106, including any consultation arrangements.

This is not a matter for the House of Commons Commission.

The rules are set out in the Code of Conduct and the Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members, approved by the House on 12 December 2022 (HC 1083).

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmcode/1083/1083-1.pdf

Members seeking advice on the registration of specific interests should contact the Registrar of Members’ Interests.

The Electoral Commission does not have the legal power to publish full candidate spending returns.

Returning Officers must make the full returns available for public scrutiny on request for a period of two years beginning with the date when the return is received.

Headline figures from candidate spending returns, including the constituency of Hamilton and Clyde Valley, were published on the Commission’s website on 18 March. The Commission publishes these so that voters and candidates can see how much was spent and ensure spending limits have been observed.

The Electoral Commission publishes guidance for candidates and agents on donations that are held on a candidate's behalf by a party, such as in a local party fighting fund. How a donation must be reported depends on the intention of the donor and who controls the donation once received.

If a donation is held by the party but made with the intention that the candidate benefits and is made available to the candidate, it must be declared in the candidate's spending return.

If there is no intention to donate to the candidate, or the donation is received and controlled by the party, this is likely to be a party donation. If the party then uses the donation to benefit the candidate, the candidate may need to report a seperate donation from the party.

The Electoral Commisson has not produced guidance on the inclusion of local Electoral Returning Officers within the definition of local authorities for the Re-Use of Public Sector Information.

The Electoral Commission produces guidance on the roles and responsibilities of Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers in carrying out the statutory functions to deliver well-run electoral services.

The Information Commissioner's Office is responsible for enforcing data protection legislation and has produced guidance for publice sector bodies covered by the Re-Use Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (RPSI)

The Elecotoral Commission has published guidance for candidates and agents on reporting notional expenditure. Property, goods, services or facilities received over the value of £50, provided for free or at a non-commercial discount, must be reported as candidate spending and as a donation. There are no requirements in law for candidates to report items of notional spending where the value is £50 or lower.

Candidates do not need to itemise or list individual items of spending with a value of £50 or below, even when they have received multiple items of spending from the same organisation with a total value over £50.

Agents are required to include the details of any reportable notional expenditure, and a declaration of its value in the candidate spending return.

The Electoral Commission has not had discussions with Companies House on the legislation referred to by the Hon. Gentleman.

The Speaker's Committee plans to hold a public evidence session with the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) on 19 March 2025 to consider its draft supply estimate for 2025/26. This session will be made available on Parliament Live.

Following the meeting, the Speaker's Committee is expected to publish the explanatory memorandum produced by the Commission explaining the content of its Estimate and justifying proposed funding requests. The Committee is also expected to consider the Commission's new five year corporate plan which outlines the LGBCE's objectives and expenditure plans over the next five years.

The Electoral Commission takes enforcement action, including using investigatory powers and sanctions, where it is satisfied that it is necessary and proportionate to do so. Where it is satisfied it can resolve a matter without enforcement action, it will do so. It issues fines for missed reporting deadlines where it is not satisfied it can achieve its regulatory aims though other means.

The Political Parties, Election and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) sets out the permissibility rules for political donations.

Unincorporated associations who donate to political parties are required to be permissable donors. However, those who give money to an unincorporated association are not required to be. Unincorporated associations are therefore not required to check that those who donate to them are permissable.

The Commission has recommended a change to the law to require unincorporated associations to ensure that any political donations come from permissable donors. This would strengthen the political finance system and provide transparency for voters.

Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, Companies House has powers to share information with individuals and public authorities, including the Electoral Commission, as long as the disclosure aligns with the functions of the receiving public authority and is not in breach of data protection legislation.

The Commission has not received information using these powers since the law received Royal Assent in 2023.

The Commission has published guidance for parties and candidates on how to distinguish between party and candidate spending, and how to report such spending. The classification of spend on a battlebus visit will depend on whether the spending promotes the party or the candidate.

The Commission’s guidance includes a number of examples of campaign events and how these would be reported.

The Commission has published guidance for candidates on transport costs. Reportable transport costs include the costs of transporting volunteers, party members or other campaigners around the electoral area, or to and from the electoral area, where they are undertaking campaigning on behalf of the candidate. This includes the costs of transport hire and fuel.

The Commission has also published guidance for candidates on staff costs. Costs for staff directly employed by the party do not count towards party spending limits. However, if staff are provided to a candidate for their campaign, staff costs would need to be reported by the candidate as notional spending.

The Commission has published guidance for parties and candidates on how to distinguish between party and candidate spending, and how to report such spending. The classification of spend on a battlebus visit will depend on whether the spending promotes the party or the candidate.

Activity promoting the candidate must be reported on the candidate return if it is authorised by the candidate or qualifies as notional spending. There is a £700 limit on unauthorised spending to promote the candidate, which would be reported on the party return. The Commission’s guidance includes a number of examples of campaign events and how these would be reported.

The Commission has also published guidance on the tests for notional spending, including how to identify when an item has been made use of by the candidate or someone on their behalf. Someone can only make use of an item on behalf of the candidate if that use has been directed, authorised, or encouraged by the candidate or their agent.

The Commission has not published a specific definition of “directed, authorised, or encouraged”; these terms are interpreted according to their commonplace use.

The use of a battlebus by the Labour Party was reported in its return submitted to the Electoral Commission in January.

The Commission will publish the spending returns for parties and campaigners that spent over £250,000 at the 2024 general election in the coming months.

As part of this, it will publish invoices and receipts for any payment over £200, which parties have to submit with the details of their spending.

This is an important part of the Commission’s work to provide voters with transparency over the money spent and received at the election.

The Commission does not issue guidance on the registration of Members’ Financial interests. The Committee on Standards periodically reviews the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members and makes recommendations for changes for the House to consider.

The rules on registering donations under both Category 2(a) and 2(b) are set out in paragraphs 14 to 20 of The Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members. Those rules do not require the provision of information on individuals or organisations that donate to unincorporated associations or members’ associations which in turn, make donations to Members.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has issued an Advice Note on the transparency of registration of income, donations and other financial interests which explains the importance of transparency when registering financial interests. Advice Notes are designed to supplement, and not supersede or contradict, specific provisions of the Code.

The permissibility of donors is a matter for the Electoral Commission, not the Commission.

The government is committed to strengthening equal pay and ending pay discrimination.

Through planned legislation, we will make the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people. We will also put in place measures to ensure that outsourcing of services can no longer be used by employers to avoid paying equal pay, and we will implement a regulatory and enforcement unit for equal pay.

As we progress these measures, we will work in partnership with employers, trade unions and civil society and carefully consider their economic and social impact, including on employers, workers and the public sector. An equality impact assessment will be conducted as part of this.

The Commission has published guidance for parties and candidates and agents on spending by the party to promote a candidate during the candidate regulated period.

The guidance sets out how to identify whether an activity promotes a candidate, and if so, how this should be reported. In most cases, activity promoting a candidate must be reported on the candidate return, either as notional spending or as spending authorised by the candidate. In the case of a battlebus visit, this will depend on the content of the event and the role of the candidate or agent in directing, encouraging, or authorising the spending.