Clause 2 - Use of CORE information
Electoral Administration Bill
11:00 am
Eleanor Laing (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, Scotland; Epping Forest, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly reasonable point, but, as I said, this is a probing amendment. It is necessary to explore the issue a little further, and I thank him for assisting in that exploration.
Amendment No. 42 deals with a similar situation. We suggest including a further condition in the procedure for CORE schemes under clause 6(4), which states that the Secretary of State must consult
''the ERO who acts for each area proposed to be specified in the scheme''.
The amendment therefore states:
''A CORE scheme shall make provision to allow registered political parites full access, without charger, to information controlled by the CORE keeper. Access to information shall be governed by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c.41).''
It is important that registered political parties have access to the information held by the ERO, no matter how that information is held. We tabled the amendment to explore the issue further, and I am sure that the Minister will be delighted to assist in that exploration.