Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you, Stephen, for that guidance.

Dame Susan, I want to go back to something that you touched on in your opening comments, which is your relationship with Parliament and the reporting that is being proposed. You have clearly shown the benefits of that reporting model, but are there any challenges?

If it assists you in answering, I would just say that the area that I am poking at is the following: you sit as an independent commissioner, as is right, but the final decision on the plans would be made by you rather than by Parliament. Do you see any challenge in what we might call a conflict of interest—or a conflict of desire—regarding the proposed change, between the Parliament on one side and your independence and role as commissioner on the other?

It is just for the record.

That was helpful. We could have a long discussion about the relationship between the corporate body and Parliament, but we will leave that for another venue.

It would certainly be helpful if you could keep us updated on that.

Absolutely—that is not what I was asking.

Let me pose something to you on that. Again, if you want time to consider my point and come back later, I am more than happy for you to do so. My understanding is that the information that was accessed would enable someone who is not the registered voter to apply for a postal vote. If they took the opportunity to redirect that voter’s post—although I am not sure why anyone would go to the lengths of doing that—it is possible that a postal vote would be issued to another address. It would be only when the registered voter walked into a polling station to exercise their right to vote that they would be informed that they had been issued a postal vote and that it had been submitted.

That would be very helpful, because I am deeply concerned about that. Information existing on the public record in one place in physical form is less concerning than someone holding a mass of such data in a different place.

Please do. My apologies.

You are happy to assist—you are a critical friend.

Oh, Stephen Kerr wants to come in. Go on—you have one minute.