Peter
Viggers, MP for Gosport, this week gave evidence to the
Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) on behalf
of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission.
His evidence formed part of a public hearing as part of
the CSPL’s Review of the Electoral Commission.
A
key function of the Speaker’s Committee is to ensure
that the Commission is resourced to discharge its functions
economically, efficiently and effectively. This is a substantial
responsibility and it must be carried out effectively and
proportionately.
While
the Committee believes that the current arrangements broadly
achieve this, and have operated increasingly successfully
as expertise and experience has built up both in the Commission
and the Committee, it decided some time ago that it should
seek an independent view of the situation and the inter-relationship
between the Committee and the Commission, in order to provide
objective evidence of this.
The
Committee’s original plans were for
a wide-ranging appraisal, but when members were informed
of the CSPL’s own intention to undertake a review,
it was decided to concentrate instead on the Commission’s
business and forward planning processes; how it assesses
the effectiveness of policy outcomes; and how the statutory
roles of the Treasury and the Comptroller and Auditor General
feed into the Committee’s work.
The
Committee’s
review was conducted by the House’s Scrutiny Unit,
a specialist team of officials within the House which was
established in 2002 to provide specialist expertise, usually
to Select Committees, on the Government’s financial
and performance reporting, and other matters. The Committee
was pleased that the review, while making a number of recommendations
aimed at improving the effectiveness of the existing arrangements,
broadly confirmed that they were achieving their intended
purpose. It has welcomed the positive response of the Electoral
Commission to the recommendations addressed to it, and
looks forward to seeing an implementation plan for these.
Peter
said during his remarks, “The Committee is
carefully considering the recommendations addressed to
it, and recognises that their implementation is likely
to lead to an increase in its workload. It has therefore
used its freedom to determine its own procedures to establish
an informal sub-committee, under my chairmanship. The sub-committee
has no delegated powers, and its first task will be to
give detailed consideration to the recommendations of the
Scrutiny Unit which are addressed to the Committee, and
to report back to it. I expect the first meeting of the
sub-committee to be held soon. In the longer term, it is
anticipated that the sub-committee will meet between meetings
of the full committee, to help prepare matters coming forward
for decision.”
Speaking
after the public hearing, Peter said, “I value the opportunity to contribute
to the work of the House of Commons and the Electoral Commission
in this way”.
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