Electoral Administration Bill

The noble Baroness is right that we are not ruling any body out. It may well be that a different approach will turn out to be the answer. I take what the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, said about the Electoral Commission; when one thinks about organisations that could be appropriate, it comes top of the list or high on the list. The noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, has raised some of the issues that we hope will come through in the consultation about different roles for organisations, the separation of roles and so on. I will make sure that the noble Baroness’s comments are fed into that consultation, as they were important points. The only reason that I find myself in this position is because, in order for the Electoral Commission to be considered at all, I have to amend primary legislation: the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Stalwarts of this type of legislation will recognise that that Act set up the Electoral Commission with a particular remit. If we decide in future that we want the Electoral Commission to perform this function, we can do so only if we amend that legislation. The noble Baroness was right that we need to think about the remit of the first CORE programme, put it before Parliament and make sure that this House and the other place are comfortable with it. Ultimately, we need to move beyond that to a national record and we will need to consider who the CORE keeper should be. It would be foolish to have to find legislative time if it were decided that it should be the Electoral Commission. There is also the possibility that we might decide upon a different set of organisations. To take the noble Baroness’s example, if a group of EROs got together to run the CORE but in two or three years’ time that did not work, or was inappropriate, or the EROs did not wish to do it any more, the Electoral Commission might then become the most appropriate body. It is only because we have to amend primary legislation in order for the Electoral Commission to be a contender in whatever system is set up for how the role of CORE keeper is awarded that we have to put this provision on the face of the Bill at this point. I would not wish noble Lords to think that any decision has been taken. It is part of the consultation process and there is a long way to go on that. The Electoral Commission is clearly one of the obvious candidates, but it cannot be that unless we amend the legislation. That is the only reason why this provision is in the Bill. On that basis, I hope that Clause 4 can stand part of the Bill.