Clause 17 - Payments to Electoral Commission
Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill
11:30 am
Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office; Shipley, Labour)
I can certainly oblige with an indication of what costs may be incurred by the boundary committee in carrying out local government reviews. As we have said before, the boundary committee would be reimbursed by the Government. We estimate that the cost would be between £750,000 and £1 million per region for local government reviews. The money would come from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's supply estimates. Money would be paid directly to the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for funding the boundary committee's work. Sums received by the Electoral Commission will be treated as income received, as can be seen in subsection (2).