Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what guidance the Electoral Commission has provided to political parties on whether volunteering by (a) trade union officials and (b) facility time employees, during the hours of contracted work, constitutes a donation in kind.

The Commission publishes guidance for political parties on notional spending which outlines the rules around staff costs and volunteer time.

Directly employed staff are excluded from party campaign spending. However, if an employer seconds a member of staff to a party’s campaign, their gross salary and any additional allowances count as a donation, and notional spending if it is in a regulated period. Volunteer time does not count as spending or a donation.