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That is helpful. Thank you.

However, this is an unusual message. The vast majority of voting information is being delivered by local authorities, normally on behalf of returning officers, on the basis of a wider need for people to understand, to schools and the communities in which people live. As Sarah Mackie pointed out, care-experienced young people are a very remote and disparate community, and, if I am honest, the reality is that the process of passing information to that group has never been particularly successful. Now that we have the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is perhaps a stronger legal obligation, particularly on the Scottish Government and the emanations of state, and it is about whether we can satisfy the human rights of a group of people who are really hard to identify and who are outside the area in which they would like to express their intention to vote.

It might be helpful if you can feed back on that. My follow-on question, which I am sure will be discussed at the round table, is about the reality that, having registered, there will probably have to be a postal vote, which potentially could prove very difficult. The returning officer will have to deal with addresses that are outside the constituency and potentially outside the region, which will throw up questions.

To go back to the most well-known Gould principle—that of the six-month period—it would be nice for the committee to have an understanding of how that issue will be dealt with. The returning officer is absolutely the individual who will have to take responsibility for that, but I have a concern that it will be impossible for the returning officer to deliver that aspect successfully. I will leave it at that. I deeply hope that the process will work, and I am confident that it will, but reassurance about the steps that are being taken would be useful.

My final question was touched on earlier in Emma Roddick’s questioning. A significant number of things are being consulted on. The committee received reassurances from the Government that a lot of the issues could and should be dealt with in secondary legislation. We have an element of secondary legislation that does not go as far as we expected, or at least as far as I expected.

Is there anything that has been missed that concerns you for the purposes of the election next year? Is there anything that should take priority for the next piece of secondary legislation that comes through, from the perspective of delivery but also of the oversight that you have?

Good morning. I welcome everyone to the 13th meeting in 2025 of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee. I have received no apologies, but I pause to welcome Ruth Maguire back to the committee. I also put on record my thanks to Rona Mackay, who was Ruth’s substitute for a period of time, for all her marvellous contributions to the work of this committee.

Our first item of business is a decision on taking agenda items 3, 4 and 5 in private. Item 3 is consideration of the evidence that we are about to hear, item 4 is configuration of the approach that we will take to the Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill, and item 5 is a note on the review of oral questions that the committee is undertaking. Is the committee happy to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

It is right to say that the solution has been to separate the dissolution period, which is, in essence, a parliamentary question about when we stop sitting as a Parliament. There will now be a slight overlap, because the election will be under way, candidates will have been nominated and all the forms will have been done.

Given the separation in the timetable, there will no longer be a challenge to the delivery of the election. However, in relation to what Sue Webber said, there might well be a challenge during the overlapping week regarding the role of a parliamentarian and the role of a candidate. The Parliament already has very strict rules about the use of resources, but will you also consider the question of reporting with regard to resources? That could be a potentially difficult decision for a candidate or parliamentarian to make over the last week. The election is in May, so we need as much time as possible. Will you keep the committee informed on how those discussions are going?

It is important to echo what Sue Webber said: it is a very challenging period for individuals. Myriad rules are thrown at them, and it would be good to be able to give people as much of a heads-up as possible, so that they can, satisfy themselves—in their own minds—that they are complying with them.

Just to clarify for people who are watching who might say, “The UK general election is always counted overnight,” that is a statutory requirement that does not exist in the legislation that we have passed in this Parliament.

As Chris Highcock said, the count timings are being consulted on to ensure that people are confident that the result that they hear is correct. One aspect is that it is perhaps common sense to recognise that tired people are more likely to make mistakes than well-rested people. If the count happens during the day—perhaps over one or two days—that makes it much easier to deal with errors, problems and concerns than if you are relying on people who have spent in excess of 12 hours counting in a polling station. Is it fair to say that?

Is that because it is the 6 o’clock news? [Laughter.]

That is maybe one of the benefits of devolution.

I will look at two separate areas, one of which—care-experienced young people and the need for a declaration of local connection—slightly concerns me. On the face of it, the purpose of the declaration is to make registration easier. However, there is a very strong challenge in identifying this group, and who is going to speak to them, inform them and support them in exercising their rights? Who is going to take responsibility for that, and how is it going to be achieved?

Absolutely. Obviously, the council elections follow a year after the new session of Parliament starts, so we will immediately be into that final-year timetable. That is very helpful, and a note will be made of it, among other things.

As there is nothing further from the committee and if there is nothing further that our witnesses would like to add, I thank you very much for your evidence this morning. I look forward to the additional information as it becomes available on the items that we have discussed, which the committee will keep an eye on. As always, you know where we are, and we know where you are. Thank you for your evidence today.

Agenda item 2 is evidence on the draft Scottish Parliament (Elections etc) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025. I welcome Chris Highcock, elections manager and secretary of the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, and Sarah Mackie, head of the Electoral Commission in Scotland. If you are both content, we will go straight to questions.