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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 4 May 2021
  6. Current session: 13 May 2021 to 16 October 2025
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Displaying 1891 contributions

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Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

Just to clarify, is it the case that the board has not yet made a recommendation as to whether it should be an overnight count or a next-day count?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

At the outset, the minister mentioned the online absent voting application procedure and the UK private members’ bill in relation to that. Given the timing and the nature of the requirements, there is no feasible prospect of that procedure being in place for the election in May next year, and it would be unfair for anyone to expect that that would be in place by then. Is that a fair summation?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

I suppose that the follow-up question relates to the six-month period before the election takes place, in which—I know that the minister agrees with this—we need a very stable and unchanging environment. On the off-chance that the legislation will be in place in time, is the minister utterly convinced that it will not unsettle that settled playing field before the election, or can people who are watching say, “No, we can still agree that, six months out from the election, we will know what it’s going to look like”?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

Yes, that is the part that I meant. I am trying to ensure that we are going to maintain the six-month period, plus a little bit. We know the time that such things need to go through.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

I note that the deadline for reporting on the SSI is 10 October.

I thank the minister and those supporting him for attending this morning.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Cross-Party Group

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

Indeed, and perhaps we could look at whether we need to rely on more than just decisions on whether there is overlap.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

Good. My other question, which is about the equality impact assessment, is twofold. First, why did it take so long to produce, given the content of the order? Secondly, why was it published so late?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

Absolutely. It is a question of allowing adequate and proper scrutiny to take place. The equality impact assessment was published on 16 September. I absolutely accept the difficulties and aim no criticism at all at any of those who support the minister on the matter, but there are timetables for when such things should be provided. Those timetables were established because they give enough time for adequate and proper consideration.

The one element that concerns me about the impact assessment’s contents relates to an issue that you have acknowledged—the subjective challenge of conducting impact assessments with young people and the way in which that is achieved. The process of the order is one thing, but, on a slightly wider scale, with regard to the work that was done on the bill that is now the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025, and on the other legislation, are you any the wiser about how to reach out to young people and to measure the impact on them, rather than engaging only with those who feel that they speak for them—in fact, some do speak for them—and others who say that the subjective evidence is, “There’s no problem here. It must be good because we say it’s good”?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

What concerns me is that, despite the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child here and the very strong foundational requirement for human rights, the impact assessment for the order states:

“Officials are largely reliant on anecdotal evidence from electoral administrators.”

If we look at those coming out of care, we are talking about, first of all, a relatively small group, but also a group that contains some of the most vulnerable individuals.

I suppose that my question is: are you genuinely content that you have come to an understanding of their needs and expectations? I absolutely accept that a single person’s input was invaluable in occasioning this particular change, and I echo your thanks to them and your hopes that that provides good evidence that individuals can change policy, but are you content that you have captured the expectations and needs of this group in particular, given the evidence that we have heard about the geographical challenge that it brings?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 18 September 2025

Martin Whitfield

That is helpful.

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