Introduction

1.These explanatory notes relate to the Political Parties and Elections Act which received Royal Assent on 21 July 2009. They have been prepared by the Ministry of Justice in order to assist the reader in understanding the Act. They do not form part of the Act and have not been endorsed by Parliament.

2.These notes need to be read in conjunction with the Act. They are not, and are not meant to be, a comprehensive description of the Act. So where a section or part of a section does not seem to require any explanation or comment, none is given.

Summary and Background

3.On 16 June 2008, the Secretary of State for Justice announced the publication of a Government White Paper on Party Finance and Expenditure in the United Kingdom. This set out the Government’s intention to bring forward immediate legislation to tighten controls on spending by political parties and candidates. The Act fulfils that commitment.

4.The main purposes of the Act are to:

• Strengthen the regulatory role of the Electoral Commission through making available to it a wider range of investigatory powers and sanctions, through clarifying its advisory role and through reforming its governance arrangements;

• Add a ‘pre-candidacy’ spending limit to regulate candidate spending when a Parliament runs for over 55 months;

• Put in place arrangements to improve the transparency of donations to political parties and other entities subject to the controls on donations put in place by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”); and

• Provide for the phased implementation of individual electoral registration in Great Britain, with additional identifying information (National Insurance (NI) number, date of birth, signature) being provided on a voluntary basis by those wishing to register from 2010 to 2015, and on a compulsory basis from 2015, subject to a positive recommendation by the Electoral Commission and Parliament that the system is ready for the change.

The Act also makes several other reforms, including to the current system for administering elections in the United Kingdom, which are designed to better ensure the successful delivery of elections in the future and to strengthen the regulatory system for political party finance and expenditure. These include:

• Providing for a new permissibility condition relating to the tax status of certain individual donors to political parties;

• Enabling holders of relevant elective office to appoint a person to act as a compliance officer, who will share responsibility for compliance with the controls on donations or loans with the office-holder;

• Enabling electoral registration officers, in the event of an election, to make amendments to the electoral register in response to applications for registration made on annual canvass forms, before the register is republished at the conclusion of the canvass;

• Providing for candidates at a parliamentary election to choose that their home address does not appear on election documents which are open to the public;

• Transferring responsibility for the retention and provision of copies of election documents produced at Parliamentary elections in Scotland from sheriff clerks to returning officers;

• Providing a power for the Secretary of State to make regulations allowing a vacant seat for Northern Ireland in the European Parliament to be filled without a by-election;

• Providing for European Parliamentary elections in England, Wales and Scotland to be administered at a local level by local authority returning officers, rather than Parliamentary returning officers;

• Extending the Secretary of State’s power under Part 1 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 to allow him or her to include additional provisions in an order establishing a CORE (Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors) scheme;

• Providing a power for the Secretary of State to establish, by order, a new corporation sole with a view to its being designated as the CORE keeper to run a CORE scheme; and

• Enabling the Secretary of State to make an order to require a public authority or other persons carrying out functions on behalf of a public authority to provide a specific Electoral Registration Officer with specific information from their databases, in order to ensure that the electoral register is as accurate and complete as possible.

Territorial Extent and Application

5.All of the provisions of the Act extend to the whole of the United Kingdom. The provisions contained in section 9 (declaration as to source of donation) include a power enabling the Secretary of State to modify how these provisions (and the accompanying provisions in Schedule 3) apply to Northern Ireland. This is necessary to take account of the different arrangements that exist in Northern Ireland for the regulation of the funding of political parties. Similar provisions are also contained in section 19 (reports of gifts received by unincorporated associations).

6.Sections 35 (schemes for provision of data to registration officers) and 36 (schemes under section 35: proposals, consultation and evaluation) will not have operative effect in Northern Ireland, because of the definition of “registration officer” adopted in those sections.

7.Some of the amendments made by the Act are to provisions in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”) which extend to Gibraltar. The amendments made by subsections (1) and (3) of section 1 (compliance with controls imposed by the 2000 Act etc), sections 4 (selection of prospective Electoral Commissioners and Commission chairman), 5 (four Electoral Commissioners to be put forward by parties), 6 (number of Electoral Commissioners), 7 (political restrictions on Electoral Commissioners and staff) and 12 (defence to charge of failing to return donation from permissible donor) of the Act, as well as paragraphs 9 to 11 and 27 of Schedule 6 (minor and consequential amendments) and the relevant entry in Schedule 7 (repeals) to the Act will all extend automatically to Gibraltar. The other provisions of the Act may be extended to Gibraltar in due course using the power contained in section 12 of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003.

8.The Sewel Convention provides that Westminster will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. In the Government’s view, no matters within the Act triggered the Convention, and consequently such consent was not sought for this Act.

9.The Act does not have any special effect on Wales and does not affect the National Assembly for Wales.

Commentary on Sections

Part 1: the Electoral Commission

Section 1: Compliance with controls imposed by the 2000 Act etc

10.Subsections (1) and (2) of section 1 amend section 145 of the 2000 Act to provide that, in addition to its existing function of monitoring compliance with various requirements (relating to registered party accounting, political donations, campaign and election expenditure, and referendums), the Commission shall have the function of taking such steps as they consider appropriate to secure compliance with those requirements. The purpose of this provision is to clarify that the Commission are required to both monitor and regulate compliance. Subsection (3) allows the Commission to publish guidance as to what conduct they consider to be necessary or sufficient in order to comply with the legislative requirements, and what conduct they consider to be desirable (that is, best practice) in view of the purpose of those requirements.

Section 2: Investigatory powers of the Commission

11.Subsection (1) of this section substitutes a new section 146 of the 2000 Act (investigatory powers of the Commission). This new section gives effect to new Schedule 19B which is inserted into the 2000 Act by subsection (2). Schedule 1 to the Act contains new Schedule 19B. Schedule 19B provides the Commission with powers to enable them to require access to information for certain purposes (including where it is conducting an investigation into a potential criminal offence) and, in relation to limited categories of individual or body and only after obtaining a warrant from a magistrate, to enter premises to inspect and make copies of relevant documents in circumstances where they are not conducting any criminal investigation. Subsection (3) makes provision as to the penalties for offences under the new Schedule.

Section 3: Civil sanctions

12.Section 3 gives the Electoral Commission new powers to apply a range of civil sanctions to offences and contraventions under the 2000 Act.

13.Subsection (1) substitutes a new section 147 of the 2000 Act (civil sanctions). This new section gives effect to new Schedule 19C, which is inserted into the 2000 Act by subsection (2), and is contained in Schedule 2 to the Act. It sets out the range of new civil penalties available to the Commission, including monetary penalties, discretionary requirements, stop notices and enforcement undertakings. The new Schedule also explains how and when the Commission are able to apply these sanctions, who they apply to and what appeal processes are available to an individual or organisation subject to a sanction. Subsection (3) of section 3 inserts a new entry into Schedule 20 to the 2000 Act which sets out the penalty for commission of the offence, set out in new Schedule 19C, of failing to comply with a stop notice.

14.Subsection (4) inserts new subsection (4A) into section 156 of the 2000 Act. This specifies that an order made under paragraph 16 of new Schedule 19C is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure if it is of the nature of any of the following orders:

• An order prescribing the offences or restrictions and requirements of the 2000 Act in respect of which the Commission can impose a fixed monetary penalty (see paragraphs 1(1) to (4) of Schedule 19C);

• An order prescribing the level of a fixed monetary penalty (see paragraph 1(5) of Schedule 19C);

• An order prescribing the offences or restrictions and requirements in respect of which the Commission can impose a discretionary requirement (see paragraphs 5(1) to (4) of Schedule 19C);

• An order prescribing the offences or restrictions and requirements the occurrence or likely occurrence of which the Commission must hold a reasonable suspicion about in order to consider imposing a stop notice (see paragraphs 10(2)(b) and (3)(b) of Schedule 19C);

• An order prescribing the offences or restrictions and requirements the occurrence of which the Commission must hold a reasonable suspicion about in order to consider accepting enforcement undertakings (see paragraphs 15 (1)(a) of Schedule 19C); and

• Any order amending an Act.

Section 4: Selection of prospective Electoral Commissioners and Commission chairman

15.Section 4 amends section 3 of the 2000 Act, which governs the appointment of Electoral Commissioners and the Commission chairman. Subsection (2) of the section inserts a new subsection (2) into section 3, which expands the series of requirements which must be met in relation to the appointment procedures. Her Majesty will continue to appoint Commissioners on presentation of an Address from the House of Commons; but, in addition to the existing requirements set out in current subsection (2) that the Speaker agree to the making of the motion and that the leader of each party which has two or more members in the House of Commons be consulted on the motion, paragraph (c) of the substituted subsection (2) requires that each person proposed for appointment must have been selected in accordance with a procedure put in place and overseen by the Speaker’s Committee.

16.Subsection (3) inserts a subsection (5A) into section 3 of the 2000 Act, providing that a Commissioner may be re-appointed without undergoing a fresh selection procedure if so recommended by the Speaker’s Committee.

Section 5: Four Electoral Commissioners to be put forward by parties

17.Section 5 makes provision facilitating the appointment to the Commission of four Commissioners with recent political experience, and provides for the appointment of Electoral Commissioners put forward by the largest political parties (“nominated Commissioners”).

18.Subsection (1) inserts new subsection (4A) into section 3 of the 2000 Act which disapplies, for the nominated Commissioner positions, the restrictions which would normally prevent a person who belongs to a political party or has been engaged in recent political activity from being appointed. Subsection (4A) does not alter the prohibition on appointing a serving officer or employee of a political party or the holder of a relevant elected office.

19.Subsection (2) inserts new section 3A into the 2000 Act, which makes provision about the appointment of nominated Commissioners. Subsections (1) and (2) of the new section provide that there shall be four nominated Commissioners, each of whom shall be nominated by the leader of a party with two or more representatives in the House of Commons (“a qualifying party”). Subsections (3) and (4) provide that, of those four Commissioners, three must be selected from the three largest parties (measured according to the criteria set out in subsection (8) of new section 3A) that have nominated three candidates each for consideration for appointment or that have previously nominated individuals, one of whom was appointed and is expected to continue to hold office.

20.Subsection (5) of the new section prevents the appointment of two or more nominated Commissioners from the same political party. The effect of this provision is to ensure that the fourth nominated Commissioner must be nominated by the leader of a party which is not one of the three largest parties. Subsection (7) prevents a nominated Commissioner from being appointed as Chair of the Electoral Commission. Subsection (8) provides that Members of the House of Commons who have not sworn the oath required by the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866 (or the corresponding affirmation) or who have been disqualified from sitting and voting in the House are not counted for the purposes of the new section.

21.Subsection (3) of section 5 amends section 14 of the 2000 Act which sets out the Commission’s boundary functions, to prevent a nominated Commissioner from being appointed to a Boundary Committee.

Section 6: Number of Electoral Commissioners

22.This section amends section 1 of the 2000 Act to increase the minimum and maximum number of Electoral Commissioners that may be appointed. The effect of the section is to increase the minimum from 5 to 9, and the maximum from 9 to 10. The increase in the minimum is intended to ensure that the nominated Commissioners will always be a minority of Commissioners.

Section 7: Political restrictions on Electoral Commissioners and staff

23.Section 7 relaxes the restrictions that apply to the political activities of Electoral Commissioners (other than nominated Commissioners) and Electoral Commission staff.

24.Subsection (1) of section 7 amends section 3 of the 2000 Act so that a person will only be prohibited from appointment as an Electoral Commissioner if they have engaged in certain political activities within the past five years, rather than the past 10 years as is currently the case.

25.Subsection (2) inserts a new paragraph 11A in Schedule 1 to the 2000 Act which reduces the restrictions which currently apply to the political activities of Electoral Commission staff, both on appointment and while they hold office. Sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 11A specifies that staff cannot be appointed to the Electoral Commission if they have been engaged in certain political activities within the “relevant period”. Sub-paragraph (2) defines this period (which was previously the last 10 years for all staff) as the last five years for the post of chief executive of the Commission and the last 12 months for all other members of staff.

26.Sub-paragraph (3) of the new paragraph 11A provides that the chief executive of the Commission cannot be a member of a registered party. Sub-paragraph (4) provides that the appointment of a member of staff shall be terminated if, after appointment, they become engaged in any of the types of political activity that would have prevented their appointment.

27.Some of the provisions of the new paragraph 11A restate sub-paragraphs (2) and (4) of paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 to the 2000 Act, and these sub-paragraphs are accordingly repealed (in Schedule 7).

28.Subsection (2) also inserts a new paragraph 11B in Schedule 1 to the 2000 Act which provides the Chief Executive with the power to designate certain other Commission posts as being subject to a longer restriction period of between two and five years, if he or she reasonably believes that it is necessary to do so in order to maintain public confidence in the effectiveness of the Commission in carrying out their functions. In determining the length of the period to be specified by the designation the Chief Executive is required to take into account the seniority of the post to be designated and the likelihood of the post-holder being required to deal with politically sensitive matters. The Chief Executive is required to consult the Speaker's Committee on the posts that he or she intends to designate. Such a designation would take effect from the day it was received by the Speaker's Committee and expire at the end of three years (unless the Chief Executive gives a cancellation notice in the interim).

29.Subsection (3) of section 7 excludes all Commission staff dealing with electoral boundary work from the reduced restrictions (from ten years to one) in section 7 of the Act, as the Government envisages that they will eventually transfer to the independent Local Government Boundary Committee to be established by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill. Under these arrangements staff employed by the new Committee will be subject to a ten year restriction that mirrors that currently in the 2000 Act. This is intended to ensure that the level of political restriction on the appointment of boundary staff remains consistent in the intervening period between the commencement of section 7 and the creation of the new Committee.

Section 8: Education about systems of Government and EU institutions

30.Section 8 amends section 13 of the 2000 Act to remove the obligation imposed on the Electoral Commission to promote awareness of current and pending systems of local and national government and the institutions of the European Union. The removal of that obligation does not prevent the Commission from continuing to provide information about systems of government and EU institutions insofar as it is needed to help promote understanding of electoral systems in the United Kingdom.

Part 2: Political Donations Etc and Expenditure

Section 9: Declaration as to source of donation

31.Section 9 creates a new requirement for a person who causes money to be received by a registered party to make a written declaration in respect of a donation over a single threshold of £7,500, irrespective of whether the donation is made to a party’s central organisation or to a local accounting unit of the same party.

32.Subsection (1) inserts a new section 54(1)(aa) into the 2000 Act, which provides that a party cannot accept a donation exceeding £7,500 if the party has not been given the declaration required by new section 54A of the 2000 Act (inserted by subsection (3) of section 9).

33.Subsection (2) inserts new section 54A into the 2000 Act. Subsections (1) and (2) of new section 54A require a person who causes a donation of over £7,500 to be given to a registered party to make a written declaration as to whether another person has provided or is expected to provide the person making the donation with money or any other benefit worth over £7,500 with a view to, or otherwise in connection with, making of the donation.

34.Subsection (3) of new section 54A provides that where a person makes a declaration that they have been given money or a benefit as described in subsection (2), then they must also declare whether or not they are acting as an agent for another person, or as the principal donor for several persons collectively, where they have each given over £7,500 with a view to, or otherwise in connection with, the making of the donation. The declaration requirement is designed to reveal whether the person apparently making the donation is the true donor or is acting on behalf of someone else. If the person states that they have received money or a benefit in connection with the making of the donation, but they are nonetheless the true donor, they must state why they believe this.

35.Subsection (4) of new section 54A provides that the declaration must provide the full name and address of the person who makes it. If the declaration is made by a person authorised to do so on behalf of a body it must also state that the person is authorised to make it and describe their role or position in the body in question.

36.Subsection (5) of new section 54A makes it a criminal offence for a person knowingly or recklessly to make a false declaration about a donation.

37.Subsection (6) provides that the Secretary of State may make provision in regulations as to how the value of a benefit is to be calculated for the purposes of subsection (2). By virtue of section 156 of the 2000 Act, the regulations must be made by statutory instrument, subject to the negative resolution procedure.

38.Subsection (3) of section 9 makes changes to section 56 of the 2000 Act so that the donation, or an equivalent amount, must be returned to the person appearing to be the donor if a declaration under section 54A has not been received. Subsection (4) makes the party and the treasurer guilty of an offence if they fail to do so.

39.Subsection (5) inserts in Schedule 6 to the 2000 Act a new paragraph 1A requiring that where a donation report is required to be made in respect of a donation to which section 54A applies, the report must include a statement from the party either confirming that the party has no reason to suspect that the declaration is untruthful or inaccurate, or giving details of any respects in which the declaration was found or suspected to be untruthful or inaccurate.

40.Subsection (6) amends Schedule 6 so that where a donation is made without a declaration the party must report this to the Commission under paragraph 6 of the Schedule.

41.Subsection (7) of section 9 amends Schedule 20 to the 2000 Act to set out the sanctions for committing the offence of making a false declaration.

42.Subsection (8) gives effect to Schedule 3, which makes equivalent provision to the above in respect of individuals and members associations, recognised third parties and permitted participants as defined by the 2000 Act. Subsection (9) provides that, after consultation with the Electoral Commission, the Secretary of State may by order amend the insertions made by this section or the related Schedule, in their application to Northern Ireland; and may make consequential or supplemental provision. Subsections (10) and (11) require orders made under this provision to be by way of a statutory instrument, which is subject to affirmative resolution of both Houses.

Section 10: Non-resident donors etc

43.Section 10 prohibits a registered party from accepting a donation of more than £7,500 from an individual who is not resident, ordinarily resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom for the purposes of income tax, and requires donors who are individuals to give a declaration as to whether they satisfy this condition.

44.Subsection (1) substitutes paragraph (aa) of subsection 54(1) (replacing the paragraph (aa) inserted by section 9) of the 2000 Act, which provides that a party cannot accept a donation if the party has not been given a declaration required by section 54A of the 2000 Act.

45.Subsection (2) amends section 54(2)(a) of the 2000 Act so that an individual donor, as well as having to be registered on a United Kingdom electoral register, cannot be a permissible donor (and as a result, a party cannot accept a donation from him or her) unless the individual meets the condition set out in new subsection 54(2ZA), subject to new subsections (2ZB) and (2ZC), each of which is inserted by subsection (3). This condition is that the individual must be resident, ordinarily resident and domiciled in the United Kingdom for income tax purposes in the tax year in which the donation is made. Under new section 54(2ZB) this requirement only applies to an individual who causes a donation and/or relevant benefits in excess of £7,500 to be received by a party in one calendar year. A “relevant benefit” for this purpose means any relevant donation accepted by a party from a donor, or any relevant transaction, such as a loan or a credit agreement, entered into by a party with a participant (as defined by section 62(3A) of the 2000 Act).

46.Subsection (4) inserts new section 54B into the 2000 Act. The effect of this is to require a person who causes more than £7,500 to be received by a party within a calendar year to provide a declaration stating whether or not they meet the condition in section 54(2ZA); and makes it a criminal offence for a person to knowingly or recklessly provide a false declaration. Subsection (4) of section 54B allows the Secretary of State to make regulations concerning the retention of such declarations; and subsection (5) disapplies the requirement to provide a written declaration to Irish citizens who make donations to Northern Ireland parties.

47.Subsection (5) of section 10 inserts a new subsection (1A) into section 56 of the 2000 Act. This provides that a party is regarded as having complied with the requirement under section 56(1) to take reasonable steps to verify or ascertain whether an individual has met the condition inserted in section 54(2ZA) if it has received a declaration under section 54B and has no reasonable grounds for thinking that the declaration is incorrect.

48.Subsection (6) amends paragraph 1A of Schedule 6 to the 2000 Act (inserted by section 9) so that a quarterly donation report must include a statement to the effect that no reason was found for thinking that a declaration required to be given by section 54B was incorrect; or give details of any respect in which the report was found to be incorrect.

49.Subsection (7) amends Schedule 20 to the 2000 Act to set out the sanctions for making a false declaration about whether or not the residence condition has been satisfied in relation to donations to political parties.

50.Subsection (8) gives effect to Schedule 4, which makes provision equivalent to the above in respect of individuals and members associations, recognised third parties and permitted participants as defined by the 2000 Act.

Section 11: Non-resident lenders etc

51.Section 11 applies the new requirements introduced by section 10 in respect of donations so that they also apply in respect of regulated transactions such as loans, credit facilities or security for debts (as defined by section 71F of the 2000 Act). The effect of insertion by section 10 of the new permissibility condition in section 54 is that the condition applies equally to those individuals who seek to enter into regulated transactions with parties as it does to donors (see the effect of section 71H(3) of the 2000 Act, which provides that a political party may only be a party to a regulated transaction with authorised participants, that is, those individuals or organisations from whom political parties are currently permitted to accept donations). Section 11 then supplements section 10 by requiring an individual who is a party to a regulated transaction to give a declaration confirming that they satisfy the new condition.

52.Subsection (1) inserts new section 71HZA into the 2000 Act. This prohibits a registered party from entering into a regulated transaction with a value which exceeds £7,500 (either as a single transaction or in aggregate with other relevant transactions within a calendar year), unless it has received a written declaration from each individual party to the transaction stating that they meet the condition in section 54(2ZA) (inserted by section 10); and makes it a criminal offence for a person knowingly or recklessly to provide a false declaration. Subsection (6) of section 71HZA enables the Secretary of State to make regulations concerning the retention of such declarations; and subsection (7) disapplies the requirement to provide a written declaration to Irish citizens who make donations to Northern Ireland parties.

53.Subsection (2) of section 11 inserts new subsection (9A) into section 71L of the 2000 Act. This provides that a party or a party officer will not commit an offence by entering into a regulated transaction with a person whom it ought to have known did not satisfy the residency condition in section 54(2ZA), if the party has received a declaration under section 71HZA and has no reasonable grounds for thinking that the declaration was incorrect.

54.Subsection (3) inserts in Schedule 6A to the 2000 Act a new paragraph 1A requiring that where a report is required to be made in respect of a regulated transaction to which section 71HZA applies, the report must include a statement from the party either confirming that the party has no reason to suspect that the declaration was incorrect or giving details of any respects in which the declaration was found or suspected to be incorrect.

55.Subsections (4) to (6) of section 11 make amendments to Schedule 7A of the 2000 Act in relation to controlled transactions (within the meaning given by paragraph 2 of that Schedule) between individuals and members associations which correspond to the amendments made in relation to regulated transactions with political parties by subsections (1) to (3).

56.Subsection (7) of section 11 amends Schedule 20 to the 2000 Act to set out the sanctions for making a false declaration about whether or not the residence condition has been satisfied in relation to regulated transactions with political parties, individuals and members’ associations.

Section 12: Defence to charge of failing to return donation from impermissible donor

57.Section 12 amends section 56 of the 2000 Act by inserting a new subsection (3A). New subsection (3A) provides that if a party or a treasurer is charged with an offence of accepting an impermissible donation, the party or party treasurer will not be guilty if they can show that they took all reasonable steps to verify that the donor was a permissible donor, and having done so, believed that that was the case.

Section 13: “Reasonable excuse” in relation to certain offences under the 2000 Act

58.Section 13 makes amendments relating to certain offences contained in the 2000 Act relating to the reporting of accounts, donations and loans and associated defences. The offences and defences in question are listed in subsections (2) to (6). These amendments insert the phrase “without reasonable excuse” in the appropriate place in respect of those offences, and therefore ensures that whether or not there is an reasonable excuse for the act or omission in question is considered in determining whether or not an offence has been committed.

59.In consequence, the amendments also remove the existing separate defence to each offence of having taken all reasonable steps or having exercised all due diligence to ensure that the relevant act or omission did not occur.

60.The offences that are revised so that no offence will be committed where there is a reasonable excuse for the breach are:

• Section 47 – failure to submit proper statement of accounts by registered party to the Electoral Commission;

• Section 65 – submission of late or incomplete report to Commission by party Treasurer;

• Section 71S – submission of late or incomplete loans report to Commission by party Treasurer;

• Paragraph 12 of Schedule 7 – submission of late or incomplete donation report to Commission by regulated donee or responsible person where the regulated participant is a members association; and

• Paragraph 12 of Schedule 7A – submission of late or incomplete transaction report to Commission by regulated participant or responsible person where the regulated participant is a members association.

Section 14: Control of donations to members associations: responsible persons

61.Subsection (1) of section 14 amends Schedule 7 to the 2000 Act which deals with the reporting of donations by regulated donees. It places a requirement on a members association with no treasurer to appoint a responsible person, in circumstances where the association is in receipt of a reportable permissible donation (that is a transaction with a value of more than £7,500), or an impermissible recordable donation above £500.