Kevin Hollinrake

The House of Commons Commission does not have responsibility for the APPG Rules.

Paragraph 8 of Appendix 4 of the Guide to the APPG Rules sets out the records that a Chair of an APPG must keep after a group has been disbanded. The Guide to the APPG Rules is silent on whether the Chair of a disbanded group is required to share those records.

Paragraph 8 of Appendix 4 of the Guide to the APPG rules sets out the requirements for APPGs when they are dissolved at a General Election. The Guide to the APPG Rules does not specify how residual assets of a dissolved APPG may be used.

In some cases, an individual or organisation may act as an agent in facilitating a donation. For example, where a donor transfers a donation to an agent, who then transfers the donation to the recipient.

If a donor intends to make a donation through their personal services company, the Electoral Commission’s advice is to treat this as a donation from the underlying personal donor.

Donations from the same source in the same calendar year should be aggregated for reporting. Where a personal services company is not acting as an agent for the donation, these donations should be reported separately.

Transferring a donation to an agent rather than directly to a recipient must not be used as an attempt to evade permissibility and transparency laws.

The Electoral Commission’s guidance for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) sets out the requirements to register to vote, including residency requirements in England, Scotland and Wales.

A person must be resident, on the relevant date, at the address at which they want to be registered. Normally, a person is deemed resident at an address for electoral purposes if it is their permanent home address.

Some voters may be entitled to register at more than one address. It is the role of the ERO to consider on a case-by-case basis the purpose for which a voter is present at an address and establish if they may be deemed resident there.

The Electoral Commission provides guidance and support for parties and regulated entities to ensure they understand and can comply with donation laws.

Its guidance sets out the requirements and checks necessary when accepting donations. Donees are responsible for carrying out checks on donations they receive to ensure they are from permissible sources and for properly and accurately reporting them.

The guidance makes clear that the law requires donees to report impermissible donations and return them to the donor within 30 days. If they are unable to return the donation they must send the value to the Commission, and it pays this into the Consolidated Fund, managed by HM Treasury.

If after the 30 day period, a donee becomes aware that a donation they have accepted is impermissible, the donee should act quickly to bring themselves into compliance. The donee should return the value of the donation to the donor if possible, or to the Commission. They should report it as soon as possible to the Commission, who would consider the matter in line with its Enforcement Policy.

The Commission identified variations in practice between parties in identifying and reporting sponsorship and has developed updated guidance to clarify this area of the law.

Sponsorship is a type of political donation with permissibility and reporting requirements. Payments linked to party conferences are considered sponsorship where one of the purposes of the payment could reasonably be seen to help with the costs of the conference.

The Commission has recently shared its draft guidance with the Westminster Parliamentary Parties’ Panel for comment. It is currently considering feedback from the parties, including how the guidance, alongside the company donation proposals in the Representation of the People Bill, could impact party conferences.

Last year, in its discussions with the UK Government, the Commission highlighted the need for the company donation clauses to be considered in relation to existing political finance laws, including specifically sponsorship of party conferences.

To date, no cryptoasset donations have been reported to the Electoral Commission.

The UK Government has announced that it plans to introduce a moratorium on donations in crypto assets. The intention is for this to apply retrospectively to any donations received from 25 March 2026 onwards. These measures would be introduced as part of the Government’s Representation of the People Bill.

The Commission has provided advice to parties so that they can prepare for future changes to the law.

Whether this should be treated as a donation will depend on the intention of the donor and who receives the donation. If the donor intends to give to the recipient via the personal services company, and the recipient has access to the donation, then the Commission’s advice is to treat this as a donation from the underlying personal donor.

The Electoral Commission has issued guidance on arrangements where donations are made via third parties.

The Electoral Commission investigated donations connected to a 2024 leadership campaign. Evidence of potential offences outside its remit were referred to the Metropolitan Police Service on 6 January, and the Commission’s investigation is paused.

There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards which sets out the agreed administrative arrangements between the two bodies. Where the Electoral Commission has reasonable grounds to suspect that a regulated transaction has not been properly reported, and is making enquiries, it may as part of this work liaise with the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

The Electoral Commission does not publish specific guidance for combined authority mayoral elections, but the laws are the same as local government elections in England. The Commission has published guidance for Returning Officers on both the timing of by-elections and requests to hold a by-election. Requests to hold a by-election to fill a casual vacancy must be made in writing by two local government electors from within the local authority area.

The Electoral Commission's assessment concerning the Centre for a Better Britain remains on-going whilst it undertakes relevant enquiries and considers the available information. There is more information about the Commission’s assessments in its Enforcement Policy.

To inform its consideration of the potential impact of a profit test for company donations, the Commission analysed publicly available data about donations reported by political parties and company accounts published by Companies House. The Commission will continue to seek input from political parties to inform the development of its recommendations, including through the statutory Parliamentary Parties Panel. It will also continue to provide evidence-based advice on political finance ahead of the parliamentary debates on the Representation of the People Bill.

The House of Commons Commission does not have responsibility for the APPG Rules. However, page 11 of the Guide to the APPG Rules sets out the following rule relating to secretariats and foreign governments:

Rules relating to foreign governments
A Group must not accept the provision of a secretariat by a foreign government, nor may they accept the services of a secretariat funded by a foreign government. A Group’s officers must undertake due diligence as to whether a foreign government is the eventual funder of a secretariat or other benefit.

The House of Commons Commission does not have responsibility for the APPG Rules.

The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards does not hold Income and Expenditure Statements agreed to by APPGs. They are either published on a group’s website (if the group has one) or made available on request.

When an APPG has been dissolved, it is the responsibility of the Chair to keep Income and Expenditure Statements for at least five years from the end of the period to which they refer. This is consistent with the Paragraph 8 of Appendix 4 of the Guide to the APPG rules which sets out the requirements for APPGs when they are dissolved at a General Election.

In May 2026 a new AI feature was added to EQM, the digital system which is used by the Table Office for the editing and processing of written parliamentary questions. This AI feature assists staff in identifying duplicate questions by finding and listing questions which have been submitted previously where there is 80% or greater level of similarity. Staff are then able to review the questions to assess whether the rules of order relating to questions already answered are engaged.

The House of Commons Commission does not have responsibility for the registration of Members’ Financial Interests.

Guidance on the registration of donations is set out in paragraphs 14 to 20 of Chapter 1 of the Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members. The Code does not make specific reference to crypto-currencies.

The Code and Guide form a House-approved document Code of Conduct and Guide to the Rules. The Committee on Standards is responsible for overseeing its policy and development, and there is a quinquennial cycle of review overseen by that Committee, with recommendations for revision and re-issue being made to and approved by the House. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards advises the Committee on its review.

It would not be appropriate to publish internal guidance documents which contain comments and track changes capturing the evolving approach to editing questions. There are many sources of guidance on the rules of order for written questions that are already published online. These include the Rules of Order in Chapter 22 of Erskine May as well as guidance on Questions and more detail on the Rules for Questions in the MPs’ Guide to Procedure. For those on the parliamentary network, there is further guidance and training material available on ParliNet. The Head of the Office meets regularly with Members seeking advice on Questions and is happy to meet with any Members who want to discuss any specific concerns or general practice in relation to written questions.

Donations to party members are regulated when made in connection with their political activities within the party. For example, these include campaigning in party leadership elections or candidate selection contests or developing or promoting policies with a view to their adoption by the party. Donations over £500 must be from permissible sources and donations over £2,230 must be reported to the Electoral Commission.

The Electoral Commission has published guidance on donations for party members.

The Electoral Commission can only publish donations to MPs which are offered in connection with their political activities either as an MP or as a party member, and are over the relevant reporting threshold of £2,230 (including aggregations of donations from the same donor). The Register of Members’ Financial Interests is broader and contains information about any financial interest an MP has, or any benefit they receive, which someone else might reasonably consider to influence what they say or do as an MP.

Members must report impermissible or returned donations directly to the Electoral Commission.

There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards which sets out the agreed administrative arrangements between the two bodies. Where the Electoral Commission has reasonable grounds to suspect that an impermissible donation or regulated transaction has been accepted or entered into, and is investigating the matter, it may as part of this work approach the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

The Electoral Commission is responsible for identifying and publishing any donations to MPs that are covered by electoral law. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards upholds the Code of Conduct for MPs agreed by the House of Commons and would take action if an MP breaches their reporting requirements. The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards gives the Electoral Commission the information it needs to publish details of donations to MPs and regulated transactions involving MPs.

There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards which sets out the agreed administrative arrangements between the two bodies.

The Electoral Commission has a memorandum of understanding with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which outlines how the two reporting regimes operate in a way which reduces the administrative burden on MPs. The Commission regularly reviews how the regimes operate and makes recommendations to Parliament to ensure the systems work effectively together and minimise the administrative burden on parliamentarians.

The Electoral Commission does not have a memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Police. It works closely with police forces to support them in their understanding of electoral law.

The Electoral Commission has not made such an assessment.

There are no requirements in law on the language of imprints. Campaigners may wish to produce campaign material in other languages to reach voters whose first language is not English. The purpose of an imprint is to ensure that voters seeing the material, know who is responsible for it. Providing an imprint in the same language as the campaign material would be one way to ensure transparency for those voters that the material is targeting.

The Commission provides guidance to Returning Officers on identifying suitable polling station venues. This includes evaluating the suitability of the polling stations that are available for use in the appropriate electoral areas.

The Commission has recently drawn Returning Officers’ attention to existing security guidance. It also provides accessibility guidance, which outlines the actions Returning Officers should take when assessing the accessibility of venues, including ensuring venues have sufficient space for voting to take place, and considering which equipment may be necessary to support voters, such as ramps or temporary floor coverings.

Individual local authorities are responsible for designating polling places. The Electoral Commission does not hold a central list of polling stations.

Commercial transactions may be sponsorship, if the purpose of the payment can reasonably be seen to be to help the members association meet the costs of an event, publication, or research study. For example, a payment for advertising at an event run by a members association would be sponsorship and the full amount must be treated as a donation.

The Commission will publish updated guidance on sponsorship shortly.

Donations received through personal services companies owned by a regulated donee are likely to be considered as being made to the regulated donee on behalf of the original donor. This is because donations to regulated donees includes anything given directly or indirectly to them through a third person under electoral law.

In these instances, the personal services company would be acting as an agent for the donation.

The Electoral Commission does not currently have an independent Equality, Diversity and Inclusion adviser. The Commission appointed an independent adviser on EDI between September 2022 - September 2023.

The Commission's EDI Strategy is on the Commission's website. It outlines the equalities legislation that applies to the Commission, how it meets its duties, and how it strives to ensure electoral processes are open and accessible to all voters and campaigners.

The Commission does not publish internal documents relating to its regulatory work. It publishes information about recently closed investigations every month, including the possible offences it investigated, the outcome and any further action. An overview of the Commission’s investigation into Labour Together is listed under April 2021 – March 2022.

Questions about consultation on a UK Government document, as in this case, are a matter for the relevant Department.

The Electoral Commission hasn't produced specific guidance on donations that are in foreign currencies.

Political parties must report the value of the donations in Pounds Sterling at the time of receipt if they are above the reporting threshold and check it for permissibility if it is above £500.

Labour Together failed to deliver 27 donation reports within 30 days of accepting the donations. The donations amounted to £739,492. Labour Together was late in reporting all of these donations, ranging from 39 days late to 1,292 days late.

The organisation also inaccurately reported the value of a cash donation from an individual donor. The donation was initially reported as being £18,000 when it should have been reported as £20,000, so it was under-reported by £2,000. The non-compliance existed for three years and three months.

Labour Together also failed to appoint a responsible person within 30 days of each donation being accepted. No sanction was imposed for these offences due to mitigating factors.

Greater Manchester Police are currently reviewing allegations of electoral fraud at the Gorton and Denton by-election. The Commission is in close contact with the police and with the Returning Officer.

Once the review is concluded, the Commission will consider the outcome and any additional action needed.

The Commission has published guidance for political parties that are considering accepting cryptocurrency assets. It sets out that cryptoassets are considered property, which is in line with HMRC and Financial Conduct Authority guidance, and should be treated as a non-monetary donation.

It has always been a requirement for political parties to report the nature and value of non-monetary donations if they are greater than the reporting threshold (£11,800). The Commission’s updated guidance clarified that this applies to cryptoasset donations.

The Table Office cards questions which do not comply with the House’s rules of order. ‘Carding’ is essentially an invitation for the Member, or staff acting on their behalf, to call the Table Office to discuss and resolve the issue so the question can be swiftly tabled or, if necessary, withdrawn. The rules of order relating to questions are summarised in Chapter 22 of Erskine May which provides the basis on which questions are carded. The Office has various internal working documents and training materials providing guidance on operational matters including on questions, motions and the order paper.

The Commission does not disclose details of correspondence related to its investigations , so it would not be appropriate to confirm whether it received representations in relation to this matter.

Since 2021, the Commission has received 16 Freedom of Information requests relating to Labour Together.

The Commission receives a high volume of complex FOI requests, and therefore does not routinely publish all FOI responses on its disclosure log.

The Commission does not have a separate policy relating to the powers conferred to it in the Economic Crime and Transparency Act 2023. Its Enforcement policy sets out how it works with other regulatory bodies, and includes detail on sharing information.

It states that the Commission shares information with other regulatory bodies where it is able to and it is appropriate to do so. Where a matter under investigation includes an offence or offences where more than one enforcement body has an interest, it will liaise with other regulatory bodies or the police at the earliest possible stage to minimise duplication of investigative work.

If the market value in GBP of any cryptoasset received by a party or regulated donee is greater than £500, they must treat it as a donation and check the donor is permissible. If it is greater than the reporting threshold (£11,180), it must be reported to the Commission.

Donations in cryptoassets of £500 or less are outside the scope of electoral law and do not need to be recorded or reported.

The Electoral Commission does not hold a register of members associations, as there is no registration requirement for these groups. Members associations are subject to controls on the donations and loans they accept towards their political activities within their party.

Members associations must report to the Commission on any donations or loans they accept. Reports must be made within 30 days of accepting the donation or entering into the loan. These reports are published on the Commission’s website.

The Electoral Commission collects data on allegations of electoral fraud from all police forces across the UK, and publishes data on its website annually. Due to the way data is provided, it is broken down by police force, not by local authority. The Commission expects to publish 2025 electoral fraud data by the end of March.

The Commission’s guidance for candidates and agents includes an overview of electoral offences. It sets out that a person is guilty of treating if either before, during or after an election they directly or indirectly give or provide any food, drink, entertainment or provision to corruptly influence any voter to vote or refrain from voting. Treating requires a corrupt intent, and does not apply to ordinary hospitality.

Allegations of treating are a matter for the police; the Commission supports the College of Policing with its guidance for policing elections, which includes information on how offences such as treating are investigated.