About us
I was asked to try to find as much of a consensus as possible on a future system for the funding of political parties in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister announced Terms of Reference for the Review on 20 March 2006. I published my report on 15 March 2007.
Engagement with political parties
Biography of Sir Hayden Phillips
Process of the Review
I approached the Review through three broad, interwoven strands of work. These are:
- Analysis of the issues;
- Public engagement; and
- Engagement with the political parties.
Analysis of the issues
The analysis strand looked at the existing situation, both in terms of the law and practice, and how any future system could work. It included statistical modelling of the various options around a possible cap on donations. Professor Justin Fisher of Brunel University and Professor Tim Besley of the London School of Economics advised us.
I have been very fortunate in that I have been able to build on the work already done, especially the Fifth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the First Report of Session 2006-07 of the Constitutional Affairs Committee on party funding and the Eleventh Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life on the role of the Electoral Commission.
Many people have been very generous with their time politicians, academics and expert practitioners, not forgetting ordinary members of the public who have been willing to share their views with me and in some cases enter into discussion with me and members of my team on the issues and their ideas.
Public engagement
I began my engagement with the public in May 2006 with the launch of this website and the publication of our information booklet and factsheets.
On 25 July, I started our online forum, which was invaluable to my team and me through engaging with members of the public in a dialogue on the key issues. The forum, which was supported by the independent, non-partisan Hansard Society, ran for 11 weeks. The forum is now closed but the archived discussion can still be viewed here.
On 19 October, I published an Interim Assessment, which sought to describe the principal issues underlying party funding, to inform public debate and to identify the policy choices open to the public and the political parties.
On 30 October, I hosted a live Question & Answer webchat. During this online debate, I had a number of lively and informative exchanges with members of the public. You can view the archived Questions & Answers here.
Over the course of the Review, I have twice appeared in public hearings before committees undertaking related work. In May, I gave evidence to the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee as part of its work on party funding. In September, I answered questions from the Committee on Standards in Public Life as part of its review into the role of the Electoral Commission. Click here for the links.
The letters, emails, posts to our online forum and webchat, as well as the responses to our Interim Assessment survey, all fed into my analysis and discussions with the political parties.
Engagement with the political parties
In parallel with the analytical work and the engagement with the public, at the start of the Review I invited all parties represented in the UK Parliament, the European Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the parties based in Northern Ireland to meet me.
I subsequently hosted meetings with the parties in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.
Biography
Sir Hayden Phillips GCB is chairman of the National Theatre, Senior Partner at HansonWesthouse and charities consultant to TRH The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. He is a director of St Just Farms Ltd, of GSL, and an adviser to Englefield Capital. He is chairman of the Salisbury Cathedral Fabric Advisory Committee, chairman of Marlborough College Council and a governor of the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust.
His previous career was in the Civil Service. He was Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department (now the Department for Constitutional Affairs) from 1998 to 2004, and Permanent Secretary of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from 1992 to 1998. Before that he held senior positions in the Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Home Office and in the European Commission. His report on The Review of the Honours System was published in July 2004.
Page last updated: 15 March 2007