Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of grouping Questions for Written Answer on the quality of the information provided in response to these questions; and in particular, further to the reply by Lord True on 22 February (HL Deb col 610), whether they will now say what representations were made by political parties supporting an increase in national party expenditure limits prior to the Government’s statement made on 3 December 2020 (HLWS610) about uprating them in line with inflation since 2000.

As outlined in the ‘Guide to Parliamentary Work’, all departments must make the utmost effort to give accurate and helpful answers to all written questions.

Further to my answer in the House of Lords on 22 February, last year the Government engaged with representatives of the Local Government Association, political groups, the Parliamentary Parties Panel and other political parties last year on uprating spending limits at reserved polls. A range of views were received and following that engagement, we uprated candidate spending limits at local elections in England. We have committed to review candidate and party spending limits, at reserved polls this year, with a view to uprating them in line with inflation.