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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 23 November 2024
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Displaying 1320 contributions

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Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Kay, can I come to you first on that?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

That is helpful.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Okay—we now come to the convener’s last mischievous question. Elections belong to the people of Scotland, but who should oversee them: the legislature or the Government?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

That is excellent. If there is anything else that you would like us to consider, once you have had an opportunity to consider what you have told us today, please feel free to write to us. I hope that you will not mind if we, in turn, take the opportunity to come back to you if we have additional questions. Thank you very much for your evidence today and for attending in person.

11:22 Meeting continued in private until 11:30.  

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

I would like to pause for a moment. There is no problem with where this discussion is going, but, because of its subject, I think that, although Jackie Dunbar has not contributed to this part of it, she would like to put something on the record in relation to it.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Ahlam Hamoud Al-Bashiri is probably the person to come to on that. Is there anything specific that you would like to see in the bill not just with regard to the proposed changes to those who can stand, but in relation to the experience that refugees and those who have the right to vote have in their interaction with the electoral process?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Do you mean specifically with regard to the intimidation and harassment side?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Toby, do you want to add to that?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Who has responsibility for ensuring that candidates can legally stand? Where does that rest? We have heard concerns about that and have had slightly different answers about who does it and on whom the responsibility should rest.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

The next part of the bill deals with proposals for pilots during elections and with allowing the Electoral Management Board for Scotland and electoral registration officers to propose those pilots. I have a number of questions to explore that idea.

James Adams, I will come to you first. Are there any pilots that you would like to see considered? Do you think that extending the power to propose a pilot could go beyond the Electoral Management Board for Scotland and the registration officers? How might that be of value to those you represent, who experience a bit of a postcode lottery?