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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 24 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

Are you in agreement with an extension to the proposal that allows the Electoral Management Board for Scotland to make those proposals, subject to you and others being able to go to the board with pilots that it should consider? Do you feel that that is as satisfactory a position as we can get to at this stage?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Before I turn to Kay Sillars, who wants to come in, I note that you are sympathetic to the concept of notional spend so that there is transparency in expenditure. Would you go so far as to say that different levels of allowed expenditure should apply to different candidates?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Do you have any thoughts on having different levels of expenditure to reflect the characteristics of candidates?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

That leads me nicely to my final statement. I know that thoughts and ideas will come to you after you leave today’s meeting, so I stress that there is an open invitation for you to correspond with the committee about the evidence that you have given today and about things that have not been covered that you would like us to consider, as Hannah Stevens has done, so that we can take all of that into account.

I am conscious of the time, so I thank you all for your attendance and your contributions today, which have been very thought provoking. As I say, we are open to any further contributions that you would like to submit for our consideration, and conversations will be on-going on a number of matters.

We will have a short suspension to allow for a change of witnesses.

10:09 Meeting suspended.  

10:13 On resuming—  

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

You are still of the view that the electoral register should be a public document and accessible; your point is that it should not be possible to seek remuneration by selling its contents.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

In our previous session, we heard views about candidacy rights, in particular for foreign nationals with limited leave to remain. What are your views on that? What are the unforeseen consequences? What are the challenges? What are the advantages?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

Therefore, do you feel that a pilot scheme in a small geographic area is necessary or do you have confidence in solutions that exist elsewhere—you pointed to the Senedd—that could just be imported if, as a Parliament, we felt that that was the right thing to do?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

I come to Edward Mountain, with an indication of the time.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

I am certainly content that you fulfilled your responsibility, Jackie. I return to you, Edward.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 18 April 2024

Martin Whitfield

James Adams, on a slightly different point in the evidence, my understanding is that you would like to ensure that electronic polling cards could be brought in in the future. Is there a reason why we should not bring in electronic polling cards, along with physical polling cards, at the moment? What would be the advantages of electronic polling cards?