Political party safeguarding policies
All political parties registered with the Electoral Commission in England and in Wales must ensure that they have a comprehensive safeguarding policy. All political parties must also ensure that they have procedures to accompany their policies, in order that politicians, prospective politicians, staff and volunteers know how to enact their party's policy, which must be published online. All political parties must update their policies and procedures regularly, and obtain expert safeguarding advice when doing this. The Electoral Commission should monitor and oversee compliance with this recommendation.
- In May 2023, the government noted that the Electoral Commission had raised limitations on its ability to implement this recommendation without legislative change (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).
- No published legislation requiring the Electoral Commission to monitor political party safeguarding policies has been identified to March 2026.
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted
Response
AcceptedOn 3 July 2020, the Electoral Commission stated that given the statutory scope of its remit, introducing a requirement that the Commission should monitor and oversee compliance of the safeguarding policies of political parties would require a change in the law. The Commission also noted that it does not have experience and expertise in child protection matters. The Commission considered it would be more appropriate for the recommendation to be directed towards other organisations. Between February 2020 and September 2021, the Co-operative Party, the Conservative Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Green Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party and the Ulster Unionist Party stated that they have safeguarding policies and procedures in place.