Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Citation | 2006 asp 14 |
Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006
2006 asp 14
An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision in relation to the administration and conduct of local government elections; to reorganise local registration services; to amend the law in relation to the registration of births and deaths and the procedure in relation to marriages and civil partnerships; to provide for the recording of certain events occurring outwith Scotland in relation to persons who have a Scottish connection; to make available certain information and records held by the Registrar General; and for connected purposes.
[01 August 2006]
Part 1
Local government elections
Performance of returning officers in relation to elections etc.
1 Setting of performance standards
(1) The Scottish Ministers may—
(a)
(a) determine standards of performance for returning officers, and
(b)
(b) publish, in such form and in such manner as they consider appropriate, the standards so determined.
(2) The standards of performance are to be such standards as the Scottish Ministers think ought to be achieved by returning officers in the administration of a local government election.
(3) When the Scottish Ministers publish standards under subsection (1) they must lay a copy of the published standards before the Scottish Parliament.
2 Returns and reports on performance standards
(1) The Scottish Ministers may issue directions to returning officers to provide the Scottish Ministers with such reports regarding their level of performance against the standards determined under section 1(1) as may be specified in the direction.
(2) A direction under subsection (1)—
(a)
(a) must specify the returning officer or officers to whom it is issued,
(b)
(b) may require the report or reports to relate to such elections as may be specified in the direction, and
(c)
(c) may require the report or reports to be provided in a form specified in the direction.
(3) A report provided to the Scottish Ministers in pursuance of subsection (1) may be published by the returning officer to whom it relates.
(4) The Scottish Ministers must prepare and publish (in such manner as they may determine) assessments of the level of performance by returning officers against the standards determined under section 1(1).
(5) An assessment under subsection (4)—
(a)
(a) must specify the returning officer or officers to whom it relates,
(b)
(b) must specify the period to which it relates, and
(c)
(c) may specify the elections to which it relates.
(6) The Scottish Ministers must not prepare an assessment under subsection (4) unless they have received reports in pursuance of subsection (1) from the returning officer or officers for the matters to which the assessment relates.
(7) Before publishing an assessment under subsection (4), the Scottish Ministers must—
(a)
(a) provide to each returning officer a copy of those parts of the assessment which relate to that returning officer, and
(b)
(b) have regard to any comments made by the returning officer regarding the factual accuracy of the assessment.
3 Provision of information about expenditure on elections
(1) The Scottish Ministers may issue a direction to a returning officer to provide the Scottish Ministers with such expenditure information as may be specified in the direction.
(2) Expenditure information is information relating to expenditure in connection with the local government election or elections for which a returning officer is appointed.
(3) A direction under subsection (1)—
(a)
(a) may require the information to relate to such elections as may be specified in the direction, and
(b)
(b) may require the information to be provided—
(i) in such form, and
(ii) by such time,
as may be so specified.
4 Correction of procedural errors
(1) A returning officer for a local government election may take such steps as the officer thinks appropriate to remedy any act or omission on the officer’s part, or on the part of a relevant person, which—
(a)
(a) arises in connection with any function the returning officer or relevant person has in relation to the election, and
(b)
(b) is not in accordance with—
(i) provision as to the conduct of elections of councillors made in an order under section 3(1) of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9), or
(ii) any other requirements applicable to the election.
(2) But a returning officer may not under subsection (1) re-count the votes given at an election after the result has been declared.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), each of the following is a relevant person—
(a)
(a) an electoral registration officer,
(b)
(b) a presiding officer,
(c)
(c) a person providing goods or services to the returning officer,
(d)
(d) a deputy of any person mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b),
(e)
(e) a person appointed to assist or, in the course of the person’s employment, assisting any person mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) in connection with any function that person has in relation to the election.
(4) A returning officer for a local government election is not guilty of an offence under section 63 of the 1983 Act (breach of official duty) by virtue of an act or omission in breach of the officer’s official duty if the officer remedies that act or omission in full by taking steps under subsection (1) of this section.
(5) Subsection (4) does not affect any conviction, or any penalty imposed, before the date on which the act or omission is remedied in full.
Access to election documents
5 Access to election documents
(1) This section and sections 6 and 7 apply in relation to a local government election.
(2) The proper officer in relation to the election must—
(a)
(a) make relevant election documents available for inspection by members of the public, and
(b)
(b) in relation to such description of documents mentioned in paragraph (a) as the Scottish Ministers may by regulations prescribe, supply, on the request of a member of the public, copies of or extracts from the documents.
(3) The proper officer must, on the request of any of the following persons, supply the person with a copy of the marked copies of the register, the postal voters list, the list of proxies and the proxy postal voters list relating to the election—
(a)
(a) a registered party,
(b)
(b) a person who was a candidate at the election.
(4) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations impose conditions in relation to—
(a)
(a) the inspection of any document in pursuance of subsection (2)(a),
(b)
(b) the supply of any document or part of a document in pursuance of subsection (2)(b),
(c)
(c) the supply of any document or part of a document in pursuance of subsection (3).
(5) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations also make provision—
(a)
(a) as to the form in which any such document or part is supplied,
(b)
(b) for the payment of a fee in respect of the supply of a document or part.
(6) Conditions which may be imposed for the purposes of subsection (4)(a) or (b) include conditions as to—
(a)
(a) whether a person may take a copy of any document which the person is permitted to inspect,
(b)
(b) the manner in which any such copy is to be taken,
(c)
(c) the purposes for which information contained in any document or part of a document which is inspected or supplied in pursuance of subsection (2) may be used.
(7) Conditions which may be imposed for the purposes of subsection (4)(b) or (c) include conditions as to the extent to which a person to whom a document or part of a document has been supplied may—
(a)
(a) supply that document or part to any other person,
(b)
(b) disclose to any other person any information contained in the document or part,
(c)
(c) use any such information for a purpose other than that for which the document or part was supplied to the person.
(8) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations also impose conditions corresponding to those mentioned in subsection (7) in respect of persons who have obtained a document or part of a document mentioned in subsection (3)—
(a)
(a) which was supplied to another person in pursuance of subsection (3), or
(b)
(b) otherwise than in accordance with regulations under this section.
6 Access to election documents: contravention of regulations
(1) A person who fails to comply with any condition imposed in pursuance of regulations under section 5 is guilty of an offence.
(2) A person—
(a)
(a) who is an appropriate supervisor of another person who fails to comply with such a condition, and
(b)
(b) who failed to take appropriate steps,
is guilty of an offence.
(3) The other person referred to in subsection (2)(a) is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1) if that person has complied with all the requirements imposed on that person by the appropriate supervisor.
(4) A person who does not have an appropriate supervisor is not guilty of an offence under subsection (1) if the person takes all reasonable steps to ensure that the person complies with the conditions.
(5) In subsections (2), (3) and (4)—
(a)
(a) an appropriate supervisor in relation to another person is a person who is a director of a company or concerned in the management of an organisation in which the other person is employed or under whose direction or control that person is,
(b)
(b) appropriate steps are such steps as it was reasonable for the appropriate supervisor to take to secure the operation of procedures designed to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, the occurrence of a failure to comply with the conditions.
(6) A person guilty of an offence as mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the...
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