They(?) say the devil is in the detail and as far as the Police and Crime Commissioner elections are concerned there are plenty of details to plough through. One small item has just emerged regarding the Welsh Language version of the electoral papers being used in this £75M – £100M process. I wrote about this back on 5th August and yesterday in Parliament we learnt how much this little detail cost. It was a known requirement even before the original legislation was finalised and the Electoral Commission tried unsuccessfully to get  the Home Office to authorise the legislation needed to print these documents. In the end the request was not enacted until Parliament returned from its Summer recess, almost a year after the first legislation was voted on.

According to an exchange between Jessica Morden MP and Damien Green MP the failure by the Home Office to request the Welsh Language version of these papers at the right time cost £350,000 or some 0.5% of the cost of these elections. It may seem like a small figure in the overall scheme of things but with huge cuts to Voluntary Sector agencies, £350,000 could achieve a great deal of good.

I am grateful that Jessica Morden asked the question, but wonder if someone within the Government could appear just a little bit embarrassed about this or show they understand the implications of their oversight? It should also be noted that this sum was merely the printing costs for these forms. In addition there is the expense of rushing emergency legislation through parliament to request the Welsh Language papers to be printed.