Policy Background The Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission is independent of Government and reports to the UK Parliament through the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission (SCEC) on its yearly estimates and accounts and its Five Year Plan where related to the Commission’s reserved functions. The Electoral Commission has a broad range of functions which are set out in the PPERA.
	In the Scotland Act 2016 and the Wales Act 2017, aspects of electoral law including those in relation to which the Electoral Commission has a role, were further devolved to Scotland and Wales. As a result, the Electoral Commission now also reports to the Senedd Cymru through the Llywydd’s Committee, and to the Scottish Parliament through the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, on its yearly estimates and accounts and Five Year Plan where related to the Commission’s devolved Welsh and Scottish functions respectively.
	The functions of the Speaker’s Committee as a statutory committee are set out in section 2 and other provisions of the PPERA and include: overseeing the appointment of Electoral Commissioners, examining and laying before the House of Commons the Electoral Commission's Estimates and Five Year Plans, and reporting annually to the House of Commons on the exercise of its functions.
	The Act makes provision for a power to designate a Strategy and Policy Statement, which will be drafted by Government and subject to Parliamentary approval. The Electoral Commission must have regard to it in the exercise of its functions. The regulator will remain operationally independent and will be able to depart from this guidance if it has a good reason for doing so.
	The Act also amends the functions of the Speaker’s Committee in order to further enhance the Electoral Commission’s accountability to Parliament. The Committee is given the power to examine the Electoral Commission’s compliance with its duty to have regard to the Strategy and Policy Statement introduced by this Act.
	Section 2 of the PPERA also sets out the membership of the Speaker’s Committee. Two government ministers are ex officio members of the Committee, namely (following the Transfer of Functions (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) Order 2021) the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Minister of the Crown with responsibilities in relation to local government appointed by the Prime Minister.
	Given wider commitments it has not always been possible for the Secretary of State to attend the Speaker’s Committee’s meetings. In practice, the Minister known as the Minister of State for Levelling Up, the Union and Constitution generally exercises functions relating to elections and the constitution on behalf of the Secretary of State, but has in the past been unable to attend Speaker’s Committee meetings as only those members named in the legislation are entitled to be present.
	The Act therefore amends the membership of the Speaker’s Committee to allow concurrent membership of the Speaker’s Committee for the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and another Minister of the Crown appointed by the Prime Minister. It also revokes the Transfer of Functions (Speaker’s Committee) Order 2021 and Article 7(1)(b) and (c) of the Transfer of Functions (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) Order 2021, which performed a similar purpose and are made redundant by the Act.
	Under Schedules 19B and 19C to PPERA the Electoral Commission has civil sanctioning and investigatory powers to enforce the rules around reporting spending, donations and loans. If a suspected breach occurs, the Electoral Commission has powers to take action unless the breach involves a criminal offence for which a civil sanction is not available (or for which the Commission considers a civil sanction may not be appropriate), in which case it is handled by the police and prosecuting authority.
	The Electoral Commission has publicly stated in its Interim Corporate Plan 2020/21-2024/25 its intention to develop a prosecutorial capability that would have allowed it to investigate and bring suspected offences before the courts. This was never explicitly agreed by the Government or Parliament.
	The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales, and the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in Northern Ireland are responsible for bringing prosecutions under electoral law. The Government is maintaining the existing role of the CPS and PPS in enforcing electoral law and so the Act amends the Electoral Commission’s powers to expressly prevent it from bringing prosecutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This does not apply in Scotland where there is already a single prosecutorial authority.