SCHEDULE
Article 2
POLICY DEVELOPMENT GRANTS SCHEME 2006
1. Citation and commencement
(1) This Scheme may be cited as the Policy Development Grants Scheme 2006.
(2) In this Scheme—
“the Act” means the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000;
“election” does not include an election to fill a casual vacancy;
“eligible party”, in relation to a year, means a party which is eligible for a grant in respect of that year by virtue of paragraph 3 below;
“English voters”, in relation to a Westminster election or a European election, means the number of persons who voted in England at that election;
“European election” means an election of members of the European Parliament;
“grant” means a policy development grant within the meaning of section 12 (policy development grants) of the Act;
“Northern Ireland election” means an election of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly;
“Northern Ireland voters”, in relation to a Westminster election, a European election or a Northern Ireland election, means the number of persons who voted in Northern Ireland at that election;
“Scottish election” means an election of members of the Scottish Parliament;
“Scottish voters”, in relation to a Westminster election, a European election or a Scottish election, means the number of persons who voted in Scotland at that election;
“UK electorate”—
(a) in respect of the year ending on 31st March 2007, means 44,403,415;
(b) in respect of any later year, means such number published by the Commission not later than 7th March preceding the beginning of the year in question as is calculated by the Commission to be equal to the total number of persons whose names appeared on an electoral register in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales on 1st December preceding that 7th March;
“Welsh election” means an election of members of the National Assembly for Wales;
“Welsh voters”, in relation to a Westminster election, a European election or a Welsh election, means the number of persons who voted in Wales at that election;
“Westminster election” means a parliamentary election other than a Scottish election; and
“year” means a period of twelve months ending on 31st March.
(3) Other terms used both in this Scheme and in the Act have the same meaning in this Scheme as they have in the Act.
(4) Any reference in this Scheme to a percentage is a reference to a percentage corrected to two decimal places.
2. Scheme period
This scheme has effect in relation to years commencing with the year ending on 31st March 2007.
3. Eligible parties
(1) A party listed in sub-paragraph (2) is eligible for grant under this Scheme—
(a)
(a) in respect of the year ending on 31st March 2007, if, on the date on which the Elections (Policy Development Grants Scheme) Order 2006 is made, it is represented for the purposes of section 12 of the Act3;
(b)
(b) in respect of any later year for which this Scheme has effect if, on 7th March preceding the beginning of the year in question, it is represented for the purposes of section 12 of the Act.
(2) The parties are—
(a)
(a) the Conservative Party,
(b)
(b) the Democratic Unionist Party,
(c)
(c) the Labour Party,
(d)
(d) the Liberal Democrat Party,
(e)
(e) Plaid Cymru,
(f)
(f) the Scottish National Party, and
(g)
(g) the Social Democratic and Labour Party.
4. Amount available for allocation by the Commission
The amount available for allocation by the Commission in each year for which this Scheme has effect is £2 million.
5. Allocation between eligible parties
In each year for which this Scheme has effect the Commission shall allocate the money provided for the making of grants in that year so that—
(a) the Conservative party, the Labour party...
