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Police commissioner election ballots reprinted after Home Office blunder
Police commissioner election ballots reprinted after Home Office blunder
(about 7 hours later)
Emergency legislation is being rushed through the Commons this week to correct a Home Office blunder over next month's police and crime commissioner elections that could cost up to £350,000.
Emergency legislation is being rushed through the Commons this week to correct a Home Office blunder over next month's police and crime commissioner elections that could cost up to £350,000.
The unexpected bill is to cover the cost of printing a second set of ballot papers in Wales where an official oversight led to legislation originally being passed that only authorised the printing of an English version of the ballot paper.
The unexpected cost covers the printing of a second set of ballot papers in Wales, where an official oversight led to legislation being passed that authorised only the printing of an English version of the ballot paper.
Returning officers in Wales are under a duty to ensure that the Welsh language is given equal status to English. They have put in place contingency plans to print bilingual ballot papers in Welsh and English for the first poll to elect police commissioners on 15 November.
Returning officers in Wales have a duty to see the Welsh language is given equal status to English. They have contingency plans to print bilingual ballot papers in Welsh and English for the poll to elect police commissioners on 15 November. The Home Office, which is to foot the bill, has confirmed that the cost will be up to £350,000.
But unless peers and MPs pass emergency secondary legislation by this Wednesday the bilingual ballot papers will have to be scrapped. The Home Office, which is to foot the bill, has confirmed that the cost will be up to £350,000.
The Electoral Commission said the emergency legislation on the Welsh ballot papers needed to be in place by this Wednesday when the initial issue of postal votes for the elections is due to start at 5pm. "If this order is not made, the ballot papers used in Wales will only be available to voters in English," the commission warned MPs.
The blunder over the Welsh ballot papers comes as Home Office ministers also push through last-minute secondary legislation requiring all elected police commissioners and their deputies to sign the Official Secrets Act. The statutory instrument also requires London's deputy mayor for policing and crime, Stephen Greenhalgh, to sign the Official Secrets Act even though he has been in office since January.
Labour's policing spokesman, David Hanson, said: "This is another example of the slipshod way in which the government has organised these elections. The Home Office said they would sort this out with legislation early in the year but didn't publish it until July. It still hasn't been passed with commissioners taking up their posts in just a few weeks' time."
The Electoral Commission said the emergency legislation on the Welsh ballot papers needed to be in place by this Wednesday when the initial issue of postal votes for the elections is due to start at 5pm. "If this order is not made the ballot papers used in Wales will only be available to voters in English," the Electoral Commission warned MPs.
The Home Office said it was confident the legislation will be in place.
The elections watchdog said the rules for any election should be clear at least six months in advance. Ministers have already been told that the move taken only a few weeks before polling day is "unacceptably" late.
It also emerged that crime prevention and community safety funding for projects such as CCTV schemes, gang intervention programmes and police officers in schools are facing a 60% cut. Home Office figures show community safety funding is due to fall from £74m in 2010-11 to £59m in 2011-12, and to an unconfirmed allocation of only £30m in this financial year.
"If English language material is prescribed and provided to those running elections, then it is an important principle of consistency that the same approach should be adopted for all Welsh language material – and this is done at the same time, not, as in this case, more than three months afterwards, and only a few weeks before polling day," said the commission.
Labour's policing spokesman, David Hanson, said it appeared that the Home Office had simply forgotten about the Welsh language. "This is another example of the slipshod way in which the government has organised these elections," he said. "The Home Office said they would sort this out with legislation early in the year but didn't publish it until July and it still hasn't been passed with commissioners taking up their posts in just a few weeks' time."
A Home Office spokesman said: "We are confident the urgent work we are undertaking will ensure legislation is in place to allow bilingual forms in Wales." The extra cost of printing a second set of ballot papers in Wales will be met from within the £75m budget for the elections, he added.
