The Scottish Parliament Elections (Returning Officer Fees and Charges) Regulations 2021

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide for the total amounts that are recoverable by returning officers for their services and expenses in connection with the conduct of elections for membership of the Scottish Parliament.

Regional returning officers are responsible for receiving regional lists of candidates from registered political parties, receiving nominations of individual candidates to be regional members, calculating regional figures to allocate regional member seats to registered political parties and individual candidates and coordinating the functions of constituency returning officers in their region that relate to the poll to return 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 article 18 of the Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2015 (“the 2015 Order”) constituency returning officers and regional returning officers are entitled to recover their charges for services rendered and expenses incurred provided they were necessarily rendered or incurred for the efficient and effective conduct of the election. These charges and expenses may be capped by the Scottish Ministers via regulations made under article 18. Article 18 also enables the Scottish Ministers to specify in regulations the total amounts that may be recovered for particular types of services or expenses and to make provision about submission of accounts.

Regulations 3, 4 and 5 specify, for constituency returning officers, the maximum total amount that may be recovered, the maximum amount that may be recovered for specified services and the maximum amount that may be recovered for specified expenses. Different amounts apply depending on whether the election is contested or uncontested.

Regulations 6, 7 and 8 make equivalent provision for regional returning officers. Again, different amounts apply depending on whether the election is contested or uncontested.

Regulation 9 makes provision for the timescales within which accounts are to be submitted and provides that supporting material, such as receipts, must be provided if the Scottish Ministers request it.

Regulation 10 revokes the previous regulations made under article 18 of the 2015 Order.