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The election for the Speakership in June 2009 was the first to be held under new rules recommended by the Procedure Committee in 2001. From our review of the procedure, we are satisfied that the system met the test of enabling the House to reach its decision in a fair and transparent way and that it will continue to enjoy the confidence of Members. In particular, the use of a secret ballot has been a success.
In the light of experience, there are a few improvements which could be made. The names of sponsors should be published and the minimum number of sponsors for each candidate should be increased to 15. Hustings should be welcomed, time permitting, but should continue to be run by outside organisations and not the House. The time allowed for each round of voting should be reduced to 20 minutes to speed up the process.
Following the approval by the House of our interim report on the principles to be followed in electing the Deputy Speakers, we have devised a detailed procedure for such elections. This is based on the existing convention that the four occupants of the Chair should be drawn equally from the Government and opposition side of the House, regardless of the exact party proportions in the House, and that there should be at least one man and at least one woman on the team. We do not see a case at present for an additional Deputy Speaker but we recommend that this be reviewed in the next Parliament along with likely changes in the role of the Deputies.
The rules for electing the Deputy Speakers should reflect those for electing the Speaker. There should be a secret ballot. Candidates should be nominated by a minimum number of sponsors and the names of those sponsors should be published. There should be no hustings or speeches on the Floor but candidates may submit a brief statement along with their nomination forms which will be made available to Members in advance of the ballot.
The ballot should take place away from the Chamber and be conducted under STV. The results should be announced in the House by the Speaker and entered into the Journal, with the newly elected Deputy Speakers taking up their duties the following day.
The Deputy Speakers should be elected at the start of a Parliament for the duration of that Parliament. Our report sets out a procedure for by-elections where a vacancy occurs due to resignation or to promotion to the office of Speaker. However, the terms of office of the Deputy Speakers should run independently of that of the Speaker and a change in the Speaker should not in itself necessitate a change in the Deputy Speakers. Any imbalance in party or gender representation on the panel would be rectified at the next General Election.
At present, the Speaker is elected by secret ballot but should the Speaker decide to stand again following a General Election, a different procedure applies. We believe that the House should be given the opportunity to decide whether this decision should be made by division as at present or by secret ballot.
We invite the House to accept our recommendations in order that arrangements may now be made to ensure that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker elections of 2010 are as successful as the election held in 2009.
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