To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what research the Electoral Commission undertook into political party expenditure in the last three Parliaments. (113959)

The Electoral Commission informs me it has included analysis of campaign spending by political parties in its statutory reports on elections since 2001.

In addition, its report, “The Funding of Political Parties”, published in 2004, examined the expenditure of the main political parties that won seats at the 2001 United Kingdom parliamentary general election based on their 2002 and 2003 statements of accounts.

These reports are available on the Commission’s website, along with the statements of accounts submitted by the political parties to the Commission.

To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what research the Electoral Commission has undertaken into the total current level of direct and indirect state funding to political parties in (a) cash and (b) non-cash terms. (113960)

The Electoral Commission informs me that its 2004 report “The Funding of Political Parties”, and the related background paper published by the Commission in 2003, examined methods and levels of public funding of political parties in the United Kingdom, including both direct and indirect sources. The report and the background paper are available on the Commission’s website.