Committees

EU Referendum Bill part one: Purdah and Impartiality

8 July 2015

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee (PACAC) is conducting a short inquiry into the EU Referendum Bill; part one of this inquiry will be conducted in the remaining two weeks before the House rises for the Summer recess on 22 July. 

This will focus on the proposal in the EU Referendum Bill to disapply the Section 125 of the Political Parties and Referendum Act 2000 (PPERA 2000) which sets out the statutory rules which apply to the 28 day purdah period in the run up to the Referendum.  The inquiry will also assess the impact of this proposal on the impartiality of the civil service during this period.  This follows the Report of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) in the last Parliament entitled Lessons for Civil Service impartiality from the Scottish independence referendum published at the end of the last Parliament.  The Committee is also inviting views and evidence on what the alternatives to Section 125 might be, or what amendments to Section 125 might be necessary in order to allay any legitimate concerns raised by the government.

Key questions

The Committee will focus on the following key questions:

  1. How did Section 125 (statutory purdah) come to be included in PPERA 2000? What case was made at the time and by whom?
  2. What are the restrictions which are applied by Section 125, and how justified are the fears expressed by the government that such restrictions are “unreasonable and inappropriate”?
  3. What particular restrictions does the government believe should not be applied by Section 125, and how could Section 125 be amended to address any legitimate concerns by the UK Government?  What non-statutory alternatives to Section 125 could be sufficient?
  4. What similar restrictions exist in other comparable countries that conduct referendums, and what lessons can be drawn from such comparisons and their experience of referendums?
  5. What lessons can be learned from previous UK Referendums in the UK held under the PPERA?
  6. What are the consequences for the impartiality of civil servants in the event that Section 125 is repealed or restricted by amendment.  What was the experience of the Civil Service in referendums before Section 125 of PPERA came into force?
  7. Should the government implement PASC's recommendation for an additional paragraph to be included in the Civil Service Code, in order that similar provisions which apply to political parties and elections should also apply in respect of ‘yes' and ‘no' campaigns and referendums?
  8. What would be the consequences of the disapplication or restriction of Section 125 for future the EU referendum and potentially for future referendums?

These questions will inform Part One of the inquiry.  This will be concluded before the summer recess in order to inform the consultation announced by Rt Hon David Lidington MP on the floor of the House on Tuesday 16 June 2015. The deadline for submissions for this part of the inquiry is Friday 17 July.  We can continue to accept written submissions after that date, but we will make a provisional report to the House on Tuesday 22 July at the latest on this part of the inquiry.

It is envisaged that the second part of the inquiry will focus on wider issues relating to the EU Referendum Bill, including the timing and date of the referendum, the text of the referendum question, campaign rules and spending limits. A further call for evidence will be issued in due course for this second phase of the inquiry.

Written submissions

As part of a scheme to encourage paperless working and maximise efficiency there is a web portal for online submissions of written evidence. Written submissions for this inquiry should be sent via the online form.

The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing. The Clerk of the House of Commons is the data controller for the purposes of the Act. We may also ask you to comment on the process of submitting evidence via the web portal so that we can look to make improvements.

Each submission should:

  1. be no more than 3,000 words in length
  2. be in Word format- not PDF-  with as little use of colour or logos as possible
  3. have numbered paragraphs
  4. include a declaration of interests.

Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a memorandum, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.

Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.

Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

Please be aware that the committee is unable to investigate individual cases.

Further information

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