Publication of candidates' spending reports delayed

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell wanted to know the reasons for the hold up.

He asked the Conservative MP for South Devon Gary Streeter - to outline in his capacity as a member of the House of Commons Speaker's Committee - what the reason was for the time taken for the Electoral Commission to publish details relating to each candidate who contested the general election on 6 May 2010.

Mr Streeter replied that the Electoral Commission, whilst having no statutory duty to publish details contained in candidate returns, in the interests of transparency published details of all the returns received from officers on December 10, 2010.

Despite this Mr Streeter admitted there were gaps in the details relating to candidates' spending reports.

"The Commission has published spending reports for 4,028 out of the 4,150 candidates who stood at the UK general election," he stated.

"Candidates' agents are responsible for submitting their spending reports to the returning officer, and returning officers are responsible for making those reports available locally.

"Returning officers are also required to forward a copy of the reports to the Electoral Commission as soon as reasonably practicable after receipt.

"While the Commission received the majority of returns from returning officers within a reasonable time after receipt, a considerable number required follow-up before a sufficiently comprehensive set of returns could be published.

"Publication of similar information after the UK general election in 2005 took place in March 2006."