Schedule 1
Political Parties and Elections Bill
12:00 pm
Michael Wills (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice; North Swindon, Labour)
I start by apologising to the Committee and to you, Mr. Atkinson, for my slightly late arrival. I am afraid that the Mayor of London has not yet succeeded in getting a grip on London’s transport. [Interruption.] Well, in this case, the blame lies where it lies. My apologies to the Committee.
I understand entirely why the hon. Member for Huntingdon has tabled these amendments. We are sympathetic to the concerns that lie behind them, but I hope that when he hears what I have to say, he will feel that he need not press them. He has set out clearly the reasons behind the amendments. In relation to amendment No. 28, I can see exactly why he has proposed it, but a blanket 24-hour requirement would be too inflexible.
I am willing to consider whether we might insert in the Bill a requirement that, if requested by those whom the documents were taken from, the commission would have to copy and return the documents within a reasonable time frame. That would ensure that only where the individual needed the copies to be returned to them the commission would be required to do so. Otherwise, it would be an onerous burden on the commission to do that in all circumstances.
I would also expect the commission’s guidance on the use of its powers to include a policy in relation to seized documents, not least because of the concerns raised in the Committee. I am sure that hon. Members’ concerns will have been noted by the commission. I hope that, on that basis, hon. Members feel satisfied and will not press the amendment.
Amendment No. 29 would oblige the commission to leave with the person to whom it applied a copy of any warrant obtained to enter and search premises, but paragraph 7 of proposed new schedule 19A to the 2000 Act, as set out in schedule 1 of the Bill, requires a person to produce a warrant when searching premises. I believe that that is adequate protection to ensure that the person understands the grounds on which a search is taking place. I cannot understand why someone would need to retain a copy after the search has ended and I am not aware of any precedent for that.