Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Scottish Parliament election

Project plan

You should prepare a project plan, treat it as a living document, keep it under regular review, and use it to monitor progress.
 
If you are also a RRO you should ensure that your plans reflect your responsibilities as RRO as well as those relating to your functions as CRO. You should record all steps taken to prepare your plans in order to be able to provide an audit trail demonstrating your decision-making process. You should be able to explain your decisions, and you should be prepared to do so in response to enquiries.

Whichever role you are fulfilling at the elections, your planning should ensure that:

• voters are able to vote easily and know that their votes will be counted in the way they intended
• it is easy for people who want to stand for election to find out how to get involved, what the rules are, and what they have to do to comply with these rules
• everyone can have confidence to participate safely in the electoral process
• everyone can have confidence in the management of the process and the results

We have produced a template project plan that you may wish to use and adapt to fit your local circumstances. The template includes a number of example deliverables and tasks and you should also add in any others you identify as necessary, including ones specific to your local circumstances.
 
You can find the project plan in the planning section of our resources page.
 
Liaison between CROs and the RRO should start at an early stage to support the delivery of a consistently high-quality experience for voters and those standing for election.

Before starting your detailed planning, you should set out what you want to achieve and what success would look like. Your project plan should include clearly defined objectives and success measures to help you measure the extent to which the conduct of the election has been successful as part of your project plan.

If you are not also the RRO, you should liaise with them at an early stage to ascertain their objectives and success measures for the regional contest so that you can reflect these in your planning.
  
You should ensure that your planning reflects the particular context and nature of the elections, including any changes to either legislation or the landscape since the last Scottish Parliament election. This would include any directions or recommendations made by the EMB Convener.
 
Your project plan should also identify the resources required including any new burdens, for example any new costs associated with making reasonable adjustments for voters at polling stations. Once the fees and charges for the election have been set, you should reconcile projected costs for activities against the available budget. You should take all necessary steps to ensure that the council makes the necessary resources available to you to enable you to discharge your functions.

You also need to plan for the implementation of accessibility requirements in the polling stations.
 
Your plans should include:

• where accessibility needs to be considered
• which barriers prevent equal access to voting for all persons
• when you need to action any identified requirements; for example if you need to buy additional equipment - will it be received in time?
• written notes of all considerations and actions taken in respect of any requested reasonable adjustments

You should also establish working relationships with experts at the local council who should be able to offer support and advice on any reasonable adjustments needed.

A reasonable adjustment is a change that is made to reduce or remove a disadvantage in relation to someone's disability compared to non-disabled people. For example the removal of physical barriers or providing extra support for disabled persons.
 
You will need to review your plans to ensure they outline your processes and the safeguards that you have in place, as they will provide a sound basis for you to meet your data protection obligations. Your council’s data protection officer will be able to help you meet your requirements and ascertain best practice. In particular, you in the role as CRO and/or RRO will need to ensure that you are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a data controller.

For more information about data protection legislation, including registering as a data controller, see our data protection guidance.

Risk register

You should also prepare a risk register, which should also be a living document and kept under regular review. You should use your risk register to monitor the known risks and document any changes in risk, as well as ensuring that mitigating actions are identified and are being taken forward as appropriate. Your risk register should identify:

• any difficulties and problems that may occur, and the actions taken to mitigate them
• the seriousness of any risk by indicating both the likelihood of the risk occurring and the impact of the risk if it did occur

We have developed a template risk register that you may wish to use.

The template provides some example risks and suggestions for mitigating those risks. In addition to the risks identified in the template you should also identify any other risks, including ones specific to your local circumstances, and how you would mitigate those.
  
You can find the template risk register in the planning section of our resources page.