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I take your point on board. It was not yesterday that I was a councillor, Mr Mountain, but you should not let the white hair fool you. It was only 11 or 12 years ago.

I also take on board your comments about geographical differences. I am aware of that issue, but I ask Iain Hockenhull to talk about consultation with local authorities and councillors.

That is helpful, Mr Doris. COSLA and the political parties panel could use a lot of the technologies that Mr Mountain mentioned in order to engage with their membership. It is important to remember that the Government is there to govern and that, although we consult, we need to make sure that those organisations consult their own membership as well. That is helpful, and it is something that we could suggest to and discuss with partner organisations.

We will maybe look at what you have discussed today, but with regard to the Scottish statutory instrument that we are considering now, we need to ensure that we can have the elections next year. I suggest that you bear with us at this stage. I have given an assurance that we will look at what you have suggested, but, at the end of the day, we have a process that some of our electoral registration officers have said is the way forward and would be better for the electorate.

If we can find other information and data, we will pursue that at a later date. However, in the here and now, to ensure that we move forward, we have to stick to what we have in front of us today.

I believe that, prior to every election, we look at inflation to see where we are at with the limits, to make sure that we do not always stay at the same level and that all the candidates get the right spending amount.

As the main body for local authorities, COSLA will have an opinion, and leaders and deputy leaders throughout the country, as well as those involved in the process and COSLA members who lead groups, will have fed into that. The consultation has been reasonably broad, but it would be difficult for us to break things down to the individual councillor level, because, as Mr Mountain will know, there are quite a few councillors. As always, if there are better ways of engaging with people and opportunities for us to do so, we will look at them.

I am quite happy to have a dialogue with anyone on how they see the way forward. As for your earlier remark about some councillors not feeling as though they are represented by COSLA, as the representative body, I have to say, as a former councillor, that I find that difficult to believe. Even though I was a back-bench councillor for much of my time on the council, I attended a number of COSLA meetings and was able to input what I wanted to say through my group. It is down to individual groups and parties to do that, too.

With regard to your perspective on the cost of campaigns in relation to geographical areas, I say again that that issue has always been one for individual campaigns and parties to deal with. The issue of how we fund elections is probably not one for discussion today but something that we can discuss and debate in the future.

I still talk to councillors.

For the sake of brevity, for the committee and its agenda, I will move the motion formally.

Motion moved,

That the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee recommends that the Representation of the People (Postal Voting for Local Government Elections) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 [draft] be approved.—[George Adam]

Motion agreed to.

As always, it is a pleasure to be here. I thank you for the opportunity to discuss the proposed changes to the procedures for running local government elections in Scotland.

The measures that are laid out in the instruments that are before the committee were carefully developed to assist with the delivery of next May’s local government elections. They will apply some of the changes that were made ahead of this year’s Scottish Parliament elections, and they reflect recent primary legislation by the Parliament on the franchise and wider electoral reform.

Although our focus has been on clarifying and strengthening existing approaches, we have also taken the opportunity to update electoral rules to strengthen our system and improve the experience for candidates and voters. For example, we are bringing in new exemptions on candidates’ spending in relation to costs for security, adaptations for disabilities and translation. That aligns with the approach that was taken for this year’s Scottish Parliament election, and it reflects the importance of accessibility, inclusion and safety.

Development of the instruments has benefited from close engagement with key stakeholders including the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, the Electoral Commission and the Scottish Parliament political parties panel. Those partners and the wider electoral community continue to play a vital role in shaping policy and in ensuring that voters have the best experience on polling day. I thank them for their support and their reflections, and I look forward to working closely with them in the coming months on the preparations for May 2022.

I hope that the committee will agree that the provisions are positive changes that will benefit voters, candidates and administrators and that it will therefore give its support to the instruments. I am willing to take any questions, and I thank you for listening to me.

It would be helpful for us all to check that information so that we can tweak it and be sure. We do not claim to have all the answers all the time. We must ensure that we get things right in the future.