23.—(1) A constituency or a regional returning officer shall be entitled to recover his charges in respect of services rendered, or expenses incurred, for, or in connection with, an Assembly election if—
(a)the services were necessarily rendered, or the expenses were necessarily incurred, for the efficient and effective conduct of the election; and
(b)the total of his charges does not exceed the amount (“the overall maximum recoverable amount”) specified in, or determined in accordance with, an order made by the Assembly for the purposes of this paragraph,
and in the case of a constituency returning officer, this paragraph applies to services rendered or expenses incurred for, or in connection with, a constituency or a regional election.
(2) An order under paragraph (1) may specify, or make provision for determining in accordance with the order, a maximum recoverable amount for services or expenses of any specified description and, subject to paragraph (3), the returning officer may not recover more than that amount in respect of any such services or expenses.
(3) The Assembly may, in a particular case, authorise the payment of—
(a)more than the overall maximum recoverable amount; or
(b)more than the specified maximum recoverable amount for any specified services or expenses,
if the Assembly is satisfied that the conditions in paragraph (4) are met.
(4) The conditions referred to in paragraph (3) are—
(a)that it was reasonable for the returning officer concerned to render the services or incur the expenses; and
(b)that the charges in question are reasonable.
(5) The power to make orders under paragraph (1) shall be exercised by statutory instrument and for the purpose of section 1 of the Statutory Instruments Act 1946(1) this provision shall have effect as if contained in an Act of Parliament.
(6) Any order under paragraph (1) may make different provision for different purposes and may contain such incidental supplemental saving or transitional provision as the Assembly thinks fit.
(7) The Assembly shall pay the amount of any charges recoverable in accordance with this article on an account being submitted to it but the Assembly may if it thinks fit, before payment, apply for the account to be assessed under the provisions of article 24.
(8) Where the superannuation contributions required to be paid by a local authority in respect of any person are increased by any fee paid under this article as part of a returning officer’s charges at an Assembly election; then on an account being submitted to the Assembly, a sum equal to the increase shall be paid by the Assembly to the authority.
(9) On a returning officer’s request for an advance on account of his charges, the Assembly may, on such terms as it thinks fit, make such an advance.
(10) The Assembly may by regulations make provision as to the time when and the manner and form in which accounts are to be rendered to the Assembly for the purpose of the payment of a returning officer’s charges; and such regulations may make different provision for different purposes.
(11) Any sums payable by the Assembly or the Welsh Ministers(2) under paragraph (7) or (8) in the financial year beginning on 1st April 2007 and in subsequent years shall be charged on the Welsh Consolidated Fund(3)
see footnote to article 16(6) as to section 1 of the Statutory Instruments Act 1946.
see footnote to the definition of “the Assembly” in article 2 as to the vesting in the Welsh Ministers of functions of “the Assembly” under article 23.
see section 117 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 as to the meaning of the Welsh Consolidated Fund.