Seòmar agus comataidhean

We resume our evidence taking on the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill at stage 1 with our second panel of witnesses. Professor Alistair Clark is from Newcastle University, and Professor Toby James is from the University of East Anglia. I welcome you both to this evidence session.

Rather than look at specific provisions in the bill, I will kick off by asking for your thoughts on the integrity of Scotland’s devolved elections, which the bill obviously relates to. Is Scotland a good example around the world? Alistair Clark, do you want to kick off on that?

Thank you for that, Kay. Hannah, what would you like to see as the priorities?

Thank you, Hannah. This is almost becoming a shopping list. Ahlam, what do you think the priorities should be for funding to increase democratic access?

Just before Jackie moves on to her next question, I want to ask Hannah what she would like to be in the bill. You referred to the Jo Cox Foundation’s recommendations, which the committee is aware of, and you highlighted the one on guidance, which could be progressed without the bill. Are you looking for anything specifically in the bill, or would you like—I will use a phrase that will come back to haunt me—a declaration in the bill of an intention to introduce other legislation, such as statutory instruments, to bring in the guidance? Would that go some way to reassuring you that the intention to have the environment that I think we all want can be achieved without specific calls for that in the primary legislation?

Ivan—

Sorry.

That is a delightful invitation. However, I will do the terrible thing and say, “This is our evidence session and this is what we are looking for.”

Do you think that automatic voter registration needs to be piloted, or could it be achieved by a change in approach to elections whereby, for example, at a certain point, such as when people grow older or come into the country, they are automatically registered?

Our next agenda item is evidence on the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill. We are joined in the room by Ahlam Hamoud Al-Bashiri, peer education co-ordinator for the Scottish Refugee Council; Alice Kinghorn-Gray, campaigns officer at the Electoral Reform Society Scotland; and James Adams, the Scotland director for the Royal National Institute of Blind People. We are joined online by Hannah Stevens, chief executive officer of Elect Her, and Kay Sillars, the regional manager of Unison. Welcome to you all.

If everyone is content, I will press on with questions, with the proviso that witnesses should not feel that they need to answer every question but should feel free to contribute when they would like to do so.

I turn, in the first instance, to Jackie Dunbar.

That is helpful. Thank you.

Along with the challenge of capacity, they may also need the authority to be able to check that.