The Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission (SCEC), or simply the Speaker's Committee, is a body created under the
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to scrutinise the
Electoral Commission.
[Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (c. 41)](_blank)
Schedule 1 ss 14–19 Through the committee's members, the commission is able to field questions in the House of Commons in a manner similar to the way ministers do.
Composition
The committee comprises nine MPs: the
speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
*Speaker of ...
(who also serves as its chair), the
Lord President of the Council
The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...
,
[As ministerial responsibility for the Electoral Commission was transferred to the Deputy Prime Minister, this position was transferred by ]statutory instrument
In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation.
United Kingdom
Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom.
National government
Statutory instrument ...
as was done when responsibility shifted from the Home Secretary to the Lord Chancellor. Se
SI 2010/1837, s 4
an
the chair of the select committee responsible for electoral issues,
[Section 2(2)(a) of the Political Parties, Elections, and Referendums Act specifically calls for this to be the chair of the ]Home Affairs Select Committee
The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Departmental Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Remit
The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select committees related to government departments: its ...
, but 2(6)(b) states that if responsibility for electoral issues transfers to another committee, that committees chair should serve instead. In the 2005, Alan Beith served on the Committee as chair of the Justice Select Committee. As ministerial responsibility for the Electoral Commission has transferred to the Deputy Prime Minister, the chair of the Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee
The Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee was a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015.
Remit
The committee was created in response to changes to the machinery of governm ...
, which was set up to scrutinse the Deputy Prime Minister's functions, now serves. the minister responsible for local government, and five others nominated by the speaker who are not
Ministers of the Crown. As of 28 May 2020, the members of the committee are as follows:
See also
*
Parliamentary Committees of the United Kingdom
References
External links
The records of the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission are held by the Parliamentary Archives
{{UKParliamentCommittees
Committees of the British House of Commons