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Draft Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2010



The Committee consisted of the following Members:

Chairman: Janet Anderson
Brown, Mr. Russell (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)
Cairns, David (Inverclyde) (Lab)
Carmichael, Mr. Alistair (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)
Clark, Ms Katy (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)
Griffiths, Nigel (Edinburgh, South) (Lab)
Horam, Mr. John (Orpington) (Con)
McCartney, Mr. Ian (Makerfield) (Lab)
McKechin, Ann (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland)
Moss, Mr. Malcolm (North-East Cambridgeshire) (Con)
Osborne, Sandra (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)
Reid, Mr. Alan (Argyll and Bute) (LD)
Roy, Mr. Frank (Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury)
Soames, Mr. Nicholas (Mid-Sussex) (Con)
Strang, Dr. Gavin (Edinburgh, East) (Lab)
Wallace, Mr. Ben (Lancaster and Wyre) (Con)
Watkinson, Angela (Upminster) (Con)
Miss J. Chandola, Committee Clerk
† attended the Committee

Third Delegated Legislation Committee

Tuesday 23 February 2010

[Janet Anderson in the Chair]

Draft Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

10.30 am
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Ann McKechin): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Representation of the People (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2010.
Good morning, Mrs. Anderson. It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning. I wish to take the opportunity to offer my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock on her birthday. Let us now get to the business in hand.
The regulations make amendments to the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 and to the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 1986. They are necessary as a result of amendments made to the Representation of the People Act 1983 by section 25 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009. Section 25 of the 2009 Act transferred responsibility from sheriff clerks to parliamentary returning officers for retaining certain United Kingdom parliamentary election documents in Scotland, making them available for public inspection and disposing of them. An order to commence section 25 will be made simultaneously with the regulations.
It might be helpful to the Committee if I provide some background to the introduction of section 25 of the 2009 Act. At present, after a Westminster election has been contested in Scotland, election material, including the marked register, is sent by the returning officer to the local sheriff clerk for safe keeping. The sheriff clerk is obliged to make some of the material available for public inspection and to destroy all the material after one year unless otherwise ordered. However, as some members of the Committee will be aware, there have been difficulties with the present arrangements for some time because sheriff clerks’ offices do not consider that they are set up to carry out those functions effectively.
Following consultation with stakeholders, the Government proposed a change to the law to transfer responsibility for storage and access for United Kingdom election records from sheriff clerks to returning officers. That is already the position for documents relating to the European Parliament and local government elections in Scotland. Similar provision will be made for Scottish Parliament election material through the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order, which will be made before the 2011 elections.
As for timing, the intention is for the new arrangements to apply to the general election this year subject, of course, to Parliament approving the regulations and the date of the poll specified in the notice of election being on or after the date that the regulations come into force. The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, which represents returning officers in Scotland, and the Electoral Commission were consulted on the proposal to transfer the functions from sheriff clerks, as well as on the proposed commencement date, and were content with it. In addition, and in line with statutory requirements, the Electoral Commission was consulted on the draft regulations.
On funding, returning officers will be able to claim for the costs necessarily incurred in connection with their new functions as part of their claim under section 29 of the 1983 Act. In addition, fees will be payable to returning officers by eligible purchasers of the marked register of electors and marked postal vote list for UK parliamentary elections in Scotland. The regulations do not change the existing fees set out in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001.
To summarise, the regulations make consequential changes that are necessary as a result of the transfer of the functions in relation to retention, public inspection and disposal of parliamentary election documents in Scotland from sheriff clerks to parliamentary returning officers provided under section 25 of the 2009 Act. I commend them to the Committee.
10.33 am
Mr. Ben Wallace (Lancaster and Wyre) (Con): Good morning, Mrs. Anderson, I am delighted to serve under your chairmanship. I wish my good regards and happy returns to the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock.
The statutory instrument is not controversial. We supported its predecessor and we shall not oppose it at any stage. Amendment to the regulations is technical and we look forward to swift resolution in Committee. However, I have one or two questions for the Minister.
First, on what evidence or for what actual reason are we transferring from the sheriff to the returning officer? What are the advantages? Secondly, the sheriff courts are not a political place, whereas local authorities can be. Is the Minister satisfied that there can be no interference or threat to the sanctity of an election when such vital information is held by a returning officer?
David Cairns (Inverclyde) (Lab): On the point about sheriffs not being political, would the hon. Gentleman send a strong message to any MP or MSP not to write injudicious letters to sheriffs in matters that are clearly to do with the court and are not political at all? That would be an appalling lack of judgment, would it not?
Mr. Wallace: It would certainly overstep the mark of the separation of powers between a parliamentarian and the judiciary. The Scottish National Party do not have a great record on recognising the differences between what is appropriate and inappropriate, which brings me to my third point.
I congratulate the Government on conferring with and consulting the Electoral Commission, giving that body a proper place in due process, which the SNP’s Scottish Government seem to want to avoid when drafting and framing a Scottish referendum on independence. Is the Minister satisfied about the security of documents held at a council? Will such a system be free from political interference and from being a political space? What is the evidence that the responsibility needs to be transferred, other than just efficiency?
10.36 am
Mr. Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD): It was not my intention to contribute to the debate because, in the same way as the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre, we have no objection to the regulations. Removing another function of the sheriff clerks—given to them for historic reasons—is sad to see, but I guess it is what we call progress. My reason for changing my mind and wanting to place my support on the record is that I can also place on the record my birthday wishes to the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock.
Ann McKechin: I thank the hon. Gentlemen for their comments and for their support for the general principles behind the motion.
The hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre is probably aware of one or two incidents of lost documentation at sheriff clerks’ offices. The latest incident was the Glenrothes by-election in 2008. Last year we resolved to re-create the register as a result of that incident.
On the independence of electoral returning officers, they are well know to the Committee for their independent views at times. We are certainly not suggesting that they perform their functions with any degree of political prejudice. In various pieces of legislation to go through the House, we have ensured such a position remains firmly in place.
Question put and agreed to.
10.38 am
Committee rose.
 
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