Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Elections Policy: Departmental Transfer

Thursday 8 September 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Committee has not made an assessment of the implications of the transfer of elections policy.
  • The change in ministerial responsibility has impacted the Committee in several ways.
  • The governance of elections was removed from the Cabinet Office portfolio and entrusted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Patricia Gibson SNP
Parliamentary Procedure
Context

The transfer of elections policy from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities has raised concerns about governance implications.

Question

Whether the Committee has made an assessment of the implications for its work of the transfer of elections policy from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities.

Answer from Chris Matheson

The Speaker's Committee has not made any such assessment. However, the change in ministerial responsibility has had an impact on the Committee in a number of ways. As I mentioned in a previous answer, the hon Member for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg) has been replaced as an ex officio member of the Committee by the hon Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts). The Commission reports that it will continue to work closely with the team of civil servants, which has moved Departments. It has also had several meetings with responsible Ministers at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, in particular to discuss the implementation of the Elections Act.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The committee's specific assessment of implications was not provided.

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Q2 Patricia Gibson SNP
Democracy & Elections
Context

Concerns persist over the governance structure for election policies following their shift from Cabinet Office to Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Question

The governance of elections is of course a very important matter, and it was rather bizarrely removed from the portfolio of the Cabinet Office by the previous Prime Minister and entrusted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Can the representative of the Speaker's Committee provide any clarity on whether that will continue, and what consideration has he given to the merits of transferring the responsibility back to the Cabinet Office?

Answer from Chris Matheson

I thank the hon Lady for that question, but the Committee will simply respond to however the Government organise themselves. It is a matter for the Government and the Prime Minister to allocate different responsibilities among different parties, and the Speaker's Committee will respond accordingly.

Not addressed: The committee's specific stance on transferring election policy governance back to the Cabinet Office was not addressed.

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