Scottish Parliament Political Parties Panel Meeting Minutes 22 February 2023

Scott Martin (SXM) requested the survey of Returning Officers on e-counting at the May 2022 elections be circulated to the panel, which Maria McCann agreed to do. 

The Minutes of 9 November 2022 were approved. 

Votes-at-16 in Scotland – Jan Eichhorn (JE) presented the highlights of the report. Maria McCann (MMcC) asked what his ideas for next steps (from a research point of view) would be. He said he had three points:

• Cohort-based data following the same young people for a period of 5 years, from their first vote
•  Ability to conduct qualitative research, to find out what matters to each young person.
•  Gain insights from international collaborations.

Matt Edmonds (ME) asked if work had been done on elections other than those to
the Scottish Parliament. JE said it would be ideal to study the same young people through all elections.

Scottish Government Local Government Candidate Survey – (MMcC) proposed this item be carried over until Arfan was available to go into the detail, but she had some top line figures to share. Despite encouraging everyone to respond, they received just under 29% of responses which compared very much to the number of responses to other surveys. PM and Andy O’Neill (AON) agreed. She said the sample reflected the issue of under-representation and was grateful to all for their input. 
     
Electoral Reform Consultation – (MMcC) said 350 responses had been received. She appreciated the responses and would keep in touch as the analysis was carried out and moved forward into primary and secondary legislation.

ACTION: (MMcC) to keep panel informed of analysis and legislative progress

(SXM) asked what the timeframe for the introduction of the Bill would be. (MMcC) said she anticipated (all going well) it would be towards the end of this year or beginning of next, but this was only an indication.

Code of Practice for Campaigners – Jeanne Delebarre (JD) said the Electoral Commission had led the public consultation and was currently evaluating the responses. Part 4 of the Elections Act (came into force on 24 November 2022) placed a duty on the Electoral Commission to produce statutory guidance in the form of a code of practice on the application of expenditure controls for third-party campaigners, within Part 6 of PPERA 2000. The code would apply to elections to the UK Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly but would not apply to Scottish Parliament or Senedd elections, unless the regulated period for either of those elections were to be combined with the regulated period for a UK parliamentary election.

Digital Imprint Guidance – The Electoral Commission had published a draft version of the statutory guidance and was currently evaluating responses from stakeholders before presentation to the Secretary of State for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities in time to be laid before the UK Parliament in the Summer and to come into force in November 2023.

(MMcC) clarified that the responses to the Scottish Government consultation on digital imprints at devolved elections were currently being considered and welcomed any comments of the panel.  

Consultation on the draft Strategy and Policy Statement – The statutory consultees had now responded to the consultation which ran until December 2022 and the Secretary of State would respond to the consultation in due course.

Voter ID public awareness – JD said the Commission had launched its voter ID campaign ahead of the May 2023 English local elections. PM asked what evaluation work DLUHC would be carrying out on the rollout of voter ID at the May 2023 English local elections. JD said she would take this question away and provide an answer after consultation with colleagues. AON said the Commission would be publishing a report on the elections, in line with its statutory duty.

ACTION: DLHUC to share evaluation on voter ID rollout 

(CHe) said the Commission had launched a new campaign across England in January called ‘Note to self’ to raise awareness of the new voter ID requirement which featured giant sticky notes with handwritten reminders to bring ID when going to vote. The adverts had been running on TV, radio, billboards, social media, and in local newspapers. They had also worked with civil society organisations in England to produce communication resources to raise awareness of the change and provide information for those who may need additional support to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate. The campaign would be rolled out across Scotland ahead of the next UK general election.

Pete Wildman (PW) talked about the funding of electoral registration offices and said they were considering what was the most appropriate way of raising awareness locally and when.

Absent Voting changes and consequences for parties – (PW) said that there were two processes in Scotland; one to apply for a postal vote for a UK parliament election and one to apply for a postal vote for a Scottish Parliament / Council elections. This would not be clear to everyone so communications would be very important and to ensure the correct form would be handed out at specific elections. There was a real risk of voter confusion, so it was important that everyone was thinking about this issue now. The message from electoral administrators should be the same as that from government.

(PM) asked what discussions between Scottish and UK governments had taken place so that voters would not be confused. MMcC said they were in discussions with UK Government about how to take things forward and would keep in touch about this.

ACTION: (MMcC) to keep the panel informed of progress

(SC) said they were doing everything, particularly in the online journey, to make it as clear as possible and that paper forms would still be available. She reminded parties and campaigners of the additional personal data being collected on the form.

(PM) asked about the timeline for the rollout. SC said it would be rolled out in   August 2023 and a fresh application would have to be made every three years (instead of the current five years). The number of proxies an elector would be allowed to act for would be up to two domestic and up to two if based overseas, so a maximum of four. It will be an offence for a political campaigner to hand a postal vote to another person and there would be a limit on the number of postal ballots which could be handed in to a polling station.

(SXM) asked about the transitional arrangements. SC said if an absent vote was in place for a date beyond the rollout, it would be switched for a three year one. PW said once the transition date was set (following 31 January) a three-year postal vote would be in place. At year 2026, everyone would have to transition at that point. A postal ballot voter would receive two letters: one in respect of a UK Parliamentary election and one in respect of a Scottish Parliament election. Hopefully, the voter would return both forms, but he could foresee a lot of communications with electors who may not realise they need to complete two separate forms. PM agreed it was confusing.

Kelsey Gillies (KG) said that the Commission would be in touch with nominated party points of contact regarding the review of our voluntary code of conduct for campaigners at devolved elections in the Spring. The revised version of the code of conduct for reserved elections is available online, and the Commission wants to bring the two in line to create consistency. She thanked JD for her update on the digital imprint and Code of practice for non-party campaigners’ consultation and said there will be more substantive update on the outcomes from those consultations to come.

Catherine Heggie (CHe) said the Elections Act also introduced a duty for the Commission to provide guidance for ROs on assistance for disabled voters at polling stations. The guidance had now been published, and ROs in Scotland will need to have regard to the guidance at UK Parliament elections. 

Isabel Drummond-Murray (ID-M) was not present at the meeting and the parties requested that she provide a written update which the Electoral Commission would circulate.

ACTION: The Electoral Commission to request ID-M provide a written update to circulate       
 

Scott Forsyth (SF) passed on apologies from Rachel Winham. He said arrangements for the up-coming by-elections were in hand and contingency measures in place regarding any industrial action from the trade union’s live ballot. He introduced Tony Fostekew (TF) who would, in future, be the Royal Mail point of contact. PM asked that notice of any strikes affecting by-elections be given as early as possible and SF agreed to do so.

ACTION: (AF) to provide early notice of strikes affecting by-elections

Electoral Administration - (CHi) said preparations for up-coming by-elections were going well. They would follow up on the experience of council elections last year to identify issues regarding the number of spoiled ballots which they were working with the Electoral Commission to address. As there was pressure on staffing, capacity remained an issue but were looking at ways to resolve this.

They planned to learn from colleagues in England through observer visits to the May elections in England with electoral teams from across Scotland and feed this into the annual conference for Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers planned for October 2023. 

Electoral Registration - (PW) said the five-year signature re-fresh for postal voting had just been concluded. Discussions on what constituted a good Voter Authority Certificate photo had taken place and said he knew that DLHUC was looking at guidance on this. They had begun to plan the annual canvass.

Regarding the new Westminster boundaries, (SXM) asked if there was a timeline in view for reviewing polling districts. PW said discussions were ongoing.

(CHi) said they were having discussions on timing and sequence, that even relatively minor changes could disrupt and that it would be useful if polling station reviews were done in advance of a UK Parliamentary election.

Consultation on revised enforcement policy – Kelsey Gillies (KG) said the consultation was open until 31 March 2023 so there was still time to submit views. She said that key changes included revising how we explained our approach, to make clear that enforcement action is only taken when it is proportionate to do so and including recognition of the impact investigations can have on those involved.      

Welcome to Your Vote Week – (CHe) said over 150 schools and youth groups across Scotland had signed up to get involved with the event. Young people participated in lessons, attended registration events, and talks with local representatives and got involved on social media. She said the Commission would be highlighting some of the activity that took place on our media channels over the next couple of weeks and currently gathering feedback from schools, youth groups and others who were involved. She said the Commission welcomed suggestions to increase the impact of the campaign in 2024 and reminded all the education resources available on our website for educators and young people to use all year round. 

Depositing the early minutes of the SP PPP to the National Archives – Andy O’Neill (AON) informed the panel that the National Archives for England and Wales (based in Kew) had asked the early Minutes of the Scottish Parliament Political Parties Panel (SP PPP) to be deposited so the early years of the Electoral Commission (2003 – 2010) could be understood. As the legal basis changed in 2010, the policy on depositing subsequent Minutes would have to be reassessed.

It was agreed there would be one meeting in the autumn. (AON) said he would circulate a list of options so a date could be fixed.