To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, for how many days each year the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission is released or is entitled to take leave for service on the board of the Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Foundation Trust; and if he will make a statement. (304447)

The Electoral Commission informs me that the chief executive is allowed up to five days paid leave a year for service as a non-executive director of the trust, provided that there is no adverse impact on the performance of his duties at the commission. The chief executive does not receive payment from the trust for his services.