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Appointment of the Scotland Commissioner Contents

Introduction

1.The Electoral Commission was established by Parliament as a body independent of Government. The Chair of the Electoral Commission and the other Electoral Commissioners are appointed by Her Majesty the Queen, following an Address from the House of Commons. The Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission is required to oversee the procedure for selecting candidates for appointment to the Electoral Commission by section 3 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, as amended by the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009. Candidates’ names are put before the House with the agreement of the Speaker.

2.This report provides information about the procedure followed by the Speaker’s Committee during the selection of a candidate to replace John McCormick as the Electoral Commissioner with special responsibility for Scotland. Mr McCormick’s term of office comes to an end on 31 December 2016. We are grateful to Mr McCormick for the contribution he has made to the Electoral Commission since his appointment in January 2008.

The Process

3.Although this is not a Ministerial appointment, the Speaker’s Committee had regard to the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies. In order to assist with identifying possible candidates for the post the Committee appointed the following independent Panel:

On this occasion the Speaker’s Committee agreed that an nominee of the Scottish Parliament should take part in the recruitment exercise, to reflect the fact that, following the passage of the Scotland Bill, the Electoral Commission is increasingly accountable to the Scottish Parliament for its work in Scotland.

4.The budget for the recruitment was set and managed by the Electoral Commission. To reduce costs the recruitment for this role and for the next Chair of the Commission were conducted simultaneously. Following a competitive tender, the Electoral Commission appointed the recruitment consultants Veredus to assist with the recruitment exercise and to ensure that the panel was presented with a strong and diverse field from which to make the appointment.

5.The Panel met, with the recruitment consultants, on 6 January. At this meeting it considered and noted the role description and person specification which had agreed between the Speaker’s Committee and the Commission (reproduced at Appendix A), discussed the recruitment process, and agreed on the other documents to be provided to applicants in a recruitment pack. All candidates were required to submit a written application. The post was publicly advertised and the panel approved the text of an advertisement.

6.The panel was advised by Veredus that web-based advertisement, in conjunction with the active search by the consultants, represented the best options to source a strong field. The panel agreed that the advertisement should appear in the following media:

7.The Panel met on 8 March to consider the report from the recruitment consultants and to agree which of the applicants should be longlisted for a preliminary interview with the recruitment consultants. The Panel agreed to longlist seven candidates.

8.The Panel met again on 22 March to consider the outcome of the preliminary interviews with the recruitment consultants and to agree which of the applicants should be shortlisted for final interview. The Panel agreed to shortlist four candidates.

9.The interviews took place, in Edinburgh, on 11 April. All candidates were questioned on the same areas relevant to the role. They were assessed on how they met the essential criteria for the role.

10.The Committee is entirely satisfied that the selection process was rigorous and that the panel discharged its duties conscientiously and with all due regard to the requirements of thoroughness, fairness and propriety. The Committee is grateful to Judith Alderton and her fellow panel members.

The Candidate

11.The unanimous view of the panel was that Dame Susan Bruce DBE should be appointed as an Electoral Commissioner with special responsibility for Scotland. Dame Susan currently holds a number of senior non-executive positions in Scotland spanning both the public and private sector. Before taking on these roles her career was in local government, where she was the Chief Executive of Aberdeen, and then Edinburgh, City Council. A summary CV can be found at Appendix B. The panel’s recommendation was endorsed by the Committee on 26 April.

Statutory Consultation

12.Section 3(2)(b) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, as amended, requires that the proposal to appoint (or re-appoint) a member of the Electoral Commission be the subject of consultation with the registered leader of each registered party to which two or more Members of the House of Commons then belong. The Speaker accordingly wrote to the leaders of the qualifying parties on 13 May. Those leaders who responded were content with the proposed appointment. The responses received can be found at Appendix C.

13.Appointments to the Electoral Commission are made by Her Majesty on an Address from the House of Commons. The Committee invites the House to approve the appointment of Dame Susan Bruce as an Electoral Commissioner for the period from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020.



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19 July 2016