Political and Constitutional Reform

Parliament and Constitution Division and the Privy Council Office

Constitutional Policy Team: We support the Deputy Prime Minister on general constitutional matters, including issues to do with the Act of Settlement; the Royal prerogative and other Royal matters, and the coalition agreement on the introduction of a statutory register of lobbyists. Our work includes advising on civic honours, including the Diamond Jubilee city status and Lord Mayoralty competitions; civilian gallantry nominations; Lieutenancy questions and the use of Royal names, titles and emblems.

Devolution Strategy Team: We provide a strategic overview of the position of the devolved administrations within the constitution and work to sustain good relations between the devolved administrations, territorial offices and Whitehall. We support the Director General of Devolution in raising awareness of, and developing capability for, relations with the devolved administrations across central government. We also provide the UK half of the joint secretariat for the British-Irish Council.

House of Lords Reform Team: We arrange meetings of the Committee on House of Lords reform chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. Decisions of the Committee will be incorporated into policy instructions to lawyers to enable publication of a draft bill by December. The draft bill will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee of both Houses.
We support Ministers in debates on proposals for constitutional reform relating to the House of Lords, excluding those relating to reforms internal to the House (dealt with by the Leader of the House).

Parliamentary Reform Team: We support the Deputy Prime Minister in taking forward constitutional and political reform proposals relating to the House of Commons, excluding those relating to elections and reforms internal to the House (dealt with by the Leader of the House).  Our work involves policy and process development, leading to legislation planned for the first term of this Parliament. We also have responsibility for the policy framework for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Privy Council Office: The Privy Council Office (PCO) is an independent unit that provides secretariat services to the Privy Council (that part of Her Majesty's Government which advises on the exercise of prerogative powers and certain functions assigned to The Queen and the Council by Act of Parliament). The Ministerial head of the Privy Council Office is the Lord President of the Council, Nick Clegg.

Elections and Democracy Division

Registration and franchise team

• policy relating to eligibility to vote in statutory elections and referendums in the UK
• responsibility for the legal framework for voter registration, including law on access to and the use of the electoral register.

Conduct of elections and boundaries team

• law and policy on matters relating to the administration and conduct of elections
• law and policy on Parliamentary boundaries matters
• sponsorship of the Boundary Commissions for England and Wales, and
• policy on voting systems.

Party funding and referendums team

• law and policy on referendums, including the proposed referendum on the Alternative Vote
• law and policy on the funding and regulation of political parties
• responsibility for the statutory framework governing the role of the Electoral Commission and managing the relationship between government and the Commission.

Electoral Registration Transformation Programme team

• delivering the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER)
• the programme currently consists of projects that will implement the business change giving effect to individual registration, the authentication of electors’ identifying information and to pilot data matching schemes and bring forward wider improvements to electoral registration.

Bill team

• Coordinating the development and passage of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies (PVSC) Bill, introduced to the House of Commons on 22 July 2010 to implement the Coalition Programme commitment to legislate for a referendum on the Alternative Vote system and fewer and more equally sized Parliamentary constituencies