The Scottish Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers' Charges) Order 2007

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order makes provision for the payment of constituency and regional returning officers for their services and of their expenses at elections for membership of the Scottish Parliament.

Regional returning officers are responsible for receiving the regional lists of candidates from registered political parties to be regional members for their region, receiving the nominations of individual candidates to be regional members for their region, calculating the regional figures for the purpose of allocating regional member seats to registered political parties or individual candidates, and co ordinating the functions of the constituency returning officers in their region, insofar as they relate to the poll for the return of regional members.

Constituency returning officers are responsible for all other functions in connection with the elections, including the counting of votes for the return of constituency members and the counting of the regional votes.

Under section 29(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, as applied for the purposes of elections for membership of the Scottish Parliament, the entitlement of a regional returning officer, or, as the case may be, a constituency returning officer, at an election to recover his charges in respect of his services rendered or expenses incurred for or in connection with a Scottish Parliamentary election depends upon–

(a) the services or expenses being of a kind specified in an order made under section 29(3);

(b) the services being properly rendered and the expenses being properly incurred; and

(c) the charges in respect of them being reasonable.

An Order under section 29(3) may also specify the maximum amounts which returning officers may recover for the various services which they render and expenses which they incur at elections for membership of the Scottish Parliament. This Order also specifies those maximum recoverable amounts.

Article 3(1)(a) and (2) of, and Part A of the Schedule to, this Order specifies the kinds of services rendered by a constituency returning officer for or in connection with, an election in respect of which he is entitled to recover his charges and the maximum recoverable amounts in respect of those services. Article 3(1)(b) and (c) and (2) of, and Parts B and C of the Schedule to, this Order specify the kinds of expenses incurred by a constituency returning officer for, or in connection with, an election in respect of which he is entitled to recover his charges, together (in the case of Part B) with the maximum recoverable amounts in respect of those expenses.

Article 4 of this Order specifies the kinds of services and expenses rendered by a regional returning officer for, or in connection with, an election in respect of which he is entitled to recover his charges, together with the maximum recoverable amounts in respect of the services specified in article 4(1)(a) and the expenses specified in article 4(1)(b).

The Order also makes provision for additional payments where the poll at a Scottish parliamentary election is taken together with the poll at a local government election.

Articles 5 and 6 of this Order make provision for the amounts that are recoverable by constituency and regional returning officers at uncontested elections in respect of their services and expenses.