SP Paper 432 (Web only)
REF/S4/13/R3
3rd Report, 2013 (Session 4)
Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft]
Remit and membership
Remit:
To consider matters relating to The Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2013, the Referendum (Scotland) Bill, its implementation and any associated legislation.
Membership:
Bruce Crawford (Convener)
Annabelle Ewing
Linda Fabiani
Rob Gibson
Annabel Goldie
Patrick Harvie
Lewis Macdonald
Stewart Maxwell
Stuart McMillan
Tavish Scott
Drew Smith
Committee Clerking Team:
Clerk to the Committee
Andrew Mylne
Senior Assistant Clerk
Claire Menzies Smith
Assistant Clerk
Stephen Fricker
Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft]
The Committee reports to the Parliament as follows—
Background
1. The Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee was established to scrutinise the legislation that provides the basis for the referendum on Scottish independence that is to be held on 18 September 2014. The Committee has largely completed this task, having now considered and reported on the Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 5) Order 2013 (the “section 30 Order”), and the two Bills subsequently introduced by the Scottish Government to make detailed provision about the referendum.
2. The first of these two Bills, which deals with the franchise for the referendum, was passed in June and received Royal Assent in August, becoming the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013.1 The second Bill – the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill – deals with all other aspects of the referendum, including the date of the poll, the question to be asked, the campaign rules and the conduct rules. It was passed by the Parliament on 14 November 2013.
3. A key feature of the 2013 Act is that it lowers the minimum voting age in the referendum to 16, compared with the normal minimum age of 18 that applies in Scottish and UK elections. For people aged 18 or over on the day of the referendum, eligibility to vote will depend on being included in the existing local government register, but young people who will be 16 or 17 on the day of the referendum are to be registered separately in a “register of young voters” (provided for in section 4 of the 2013 Act).
4. Under existing electoral law (section 9B of the Representation of the People Act 19832 – applied to the referendum, with minor variations, by the 2013 Act3), a person is entitled in certain circumstances to be registered to vote anonymously. In particular, the registration officer must apply what is described as “the safety test” – which “is satisfied if the safety of the applicant for an anonymous entry or that of any other person of the same household would be at risk if the register contains the name of the applicant or his qualifying address”.4
5. Further details of what is required to apply for anonymous registration under the 1983 Act are set out in regulations. The relevant regulations in a Scottish context were originally made in 2001, although they have since been amended.5
6. Under the 2001 Regulations (as amended), an application for anonymous registration must be accompanied by evidence that the safety test is met. Such evidence can consist either of one of the court orders and injunctions listed in Regulation 31I, or of an “attestation” made by one of the officers listed in Regulation 31J.6 For the purposes of registration in the register of young voters, both Regulation 31I and 31J were applied without modifications by the 2013 Act.7
The draft Order
7. The Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 20138 was laid in draft before the Parliament on 31 October, and referred to the Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee. It is to be made under section 11 of the 2013 Act, and is subject to the affirmative procedure – that is, it can only be made if the draft is approved by resolution of the Parliament.
8. The purpose of the instrument is to extend the circumstances in which a young person is eligible to apply to be registered anonymously in the register of young voters.
9. Article 3 provides a new and extended list of orders and interdicts that provide evidence that the safety test is satisfied. In doing so, it replicates changes that are in any case to be made (in relation to registration for elections) by the UK Government in amending regulations under the 1983 Act.9
10. Article 4 provides additional flexibility in relation to attestation. Under Regulation 31J, the only qualifying officers in Scotland are a police chief constable or a chief social work officer, and this Article provides for an attestation also to be made by any person authorised in writing by a chief social work officer. According to the Scottish Government’s policy note, this change is intended to address concerns raised by stakeholders, during scrutiny of the Franchise Bill, that the process of attestation could be difficult to use given the level of seniority of the qualifying officers.
Scrutiny by the DPLR Committee
11. The draft Order was considered by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee on 12 November, which agreed that no points arose on the instrument.10
Scrutiny by the lead committee
12. The Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee considered the draft Order at its meeting on 21 November, and took evidence from the Deputy First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon).
13. The Deputy First Minister confirmed that the changes in relation to attestation were partly prompted by concerns raised by the Commissioner for Children and Young People for Scotland, and confirmed by electoral registration officers (EROs), that the existing arrangements could be cumbersome. She said that, although she could not speak for the Commissioner, she was confident that the draft Order went “as far as it is reasonable to go in addressing the legitimate concerns that were raised”.11
14. She said it would be difficult to estimate how many young people would be eligible to seek anonymous registration, but the number was likely to be very small. As a result, it was “likely that there will not be much of a financial impact” from the draft Order.12
15. Nevertheless, there was a point of principle behind the draft Order – namely, to ensure that “everyone with the right to vote in this referendum does not face any avoidable barriers to doing so”.13
16. The Deputy First Minister explained that the changes made by the draft Order, if approved, would be reflected in guidance to social workers, and that electoral registration officers would be expected pro-actively to ensure that vulnerable young people were aware of their registration options.14
17. She also confirmed that there was no age-limit on the persons to whom responsibility for attestation could be delegated, but the safeguard was that a chief social work officer would only delegate that responsibility to someone he or she considered appropriate. The intention was that this would be someone who had a professional relationship with the young person concerned, and who was more likely than a chief social work officer to be familiar with his or her individual circumstances.15
18. The Deputy First Minister then moved motion S4M-08328, inviting the Committee to recommend approval of the instrument. The motion was agreed to without debate or division.
Recommendation
19. Accordingly, the Committee recommends to the Parliament that the Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft] be approved.
ANNEXE: EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTES OF THE REFERENDUM (SCOTLAND) BILL COMMITTEE
23rd Meeting, 2013 (Session 4), Thursday 21 November 2013
Decision on taking business in private: The Committee agreed to take its consideration of a draft report on the Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft] in private at a future meeting.
Subordinate legislation: The Committee took evidence on the Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft] from—
Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister (Government Strategy and the Constitution), Scottish Government.
Subordinate legislation: Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister (Government Strategy and the Constitution) moved—
S4M-08328—That the Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee recommends that the Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft] be approved.
The motion was agreed to.
24th Meeting, 2013 (Session 4), Thursday 5 December 2013
Subordinate legislation (in private): The Committee considered a draft report on the Register of Young Voters (Anonymous Entries) (Scotland) Order 2013 [draft]. The report was agreed to, for publication on 9 December 2013.
[Note: Following the oral evidence from the Deputy First Minister at the 23rd meeting, she wrote to the Committee with further information on the financial implications of the draft Order. This letter was circulated for the 24th meeting and is available here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_ReferendumScotlandBillCommittee/Agenda_and_papers_5_Dec_13.pdf.]
Footnotes:
3 Section 6 and Part 2 of schedule 1.
4 Subsection (10) of section 9B of the 1983 Act.
5 The Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001, SI 2001/497.
7 See Part 3 of schedule 1 to the 2013 Act.
11 Scottish Parliament Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee, 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 654.
12 Scottish Parliament Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee, 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 657.
13 Scottish Parliament Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee, 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 657.
14 Scottish Parliament Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee, 21 November 2013, Official Report, column 656.
15 Scottish Parliament Referendum (Scotland) Bill Committee, 21 November 2013, Official Report, columns 655, 657.
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