Publication - FOI/EIR release

Potential electoral reform for Holyrood elections: FOI release

Published: 14 August 2024
Directorate: Constitution Directorate
Topic: Constitution and democracy, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/202300381562
Date received: 18 October 2023
Date responded: 14 November 2023

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

Any policy documents, statements, manifestos, meeting minutes, briefings or correspondence indicating the position of the Scottish Government and/or the SNP or Scottish Greens on potential electoral reform for Holyrood elections.

Details of any internal review, analysis or research carried out by the Scottish Government examining alternatives to the Additional Member System currently used for Scottish Parliament elections.

Information on the Scottish Government's views on implementing a proportional representation system for Scottish Parliament elections, either through Single Transferable Vote or party-list PR.

Any records relating to discussions between the SNP and Scottish Greens on changing the electoral system for Holyrood as part of their cooperation agreement.

In response to a request for clarification (which explained that we would only consider material held by the Scottish Government in answering your FOISA request and explained that we would interpret "electoral reform" for the purposes of your request as information on changing the electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament) you added: “Yes, my enquiry relates to electoral reform for Scottish Parliamentary elections”. You also confirmed that you would be content to only be provided with one version of the text, where the same position has been set out in the same language on several occasions.

I can also confirm that you are correct in your understanding that political parties are not subject to FOI.

Response

We have used the 18th of May 2017 as the starting point for considering your request. This was the date set out in the Scotland Act 2016 (Commencement No.6) Regulations 2017 which commenced Section 12 of the Scotland Act 2016 which, amongst other things, gave the Scottish Parliament the power to modify sections 1(2) to (5) and sections 5 to 10 of the Scotland Act 1998, which sets out the basis for the electoral system for returning members to the Scottish Parliament. Prior to this date, the Scottish Parliament did not have the power to change the electoral system for elections to the Scottish Parliament or, indeed, to make any other changes in relation to Scottish Parliament elections.

However, there is one earlier document held by the Scottish Government that I considered might be of interest to you. This is the Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems’ report “Putting Citizens First: Boundaries, Voting and Representation in Scotland” which was published in January 2006. This was the last time that an independent Commission was asked to look at the voting systems used at Scottish Parliament elections. Although the Commission’s report was published, it can be difficult to find copies online and I am therefore attaching a copy for your convenience.

In relation to material since the 18th of May 2017 I attach at Annex A the information you requested, but you may wish to note the following (and that where exemptions under FOISA are cited a fuller explanation of each exemption is provided at Annex B):

You may wish to know that exemptions under sections 29(1)(a) and 30(b)(i) of FOISA have been applied to a number of documents which were produced in 2017 as their disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice.

Document 1 is the Scottish Government’s analysis of responses to the Consultation on Electoral Reform which is available on the Scottish Government website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

Document 2 is a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations to an MSP which indicates the Government’s position on the electoral system used for Scottish Parliament and local government elections. Personal data has been redacted from these letters as allowed for under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA.

Document 3 is an extract of briefing provided to the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans for his use during the parliamentary passage of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Bill in 2020. The briefings are wide ranging, and the extracts are the sections relevant to your request. Some information has been redacted from this briefing under Section 30(b)(i) of FOISA which allows for the withholding of information where disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice.

Documents 4 and 5 are extracts of longer letters in response to enquiries from members of the public and only contain the information from those letters which is relevant to your request.

Documents 6 and 8 are letters from the Minister for Parliamentary Business to MSPs which indicate the Government’s position on the electoral system used for appointing members to the Scottish Parliament. Personal data has been redacted from document 6, as allowed for under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA.

Document 7 On 19 October 2021 the Scottish Government provided views to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament on petition PE1901 on changing the SP voting system. The Scottish Government’s response is available on the Scottish Parliament website. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

In addition to the documents listed in the Annex, you may wish to consider the second and fourth publications in the Government’s ‘Building a New Scotland’ series. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you. Both these documents are available on the Scottish Government website and links are provided below.

The second publication in the ‘Building a New Scotland’ series, sets out the key democratic considerations which the Scottish Government thinks people in Scotland need to consider when making an informed choice about their future. In particular, the section starting at page 17 may be of interest. This publication can be found here: Renewing Democracy through Independence (www.gov.scot).

The fourth publication in the ‘Building a New Scotland’ series sets out the Scottish Government’s proposals for how people in Scotland can create a written constitution that puts democracy, rights and equality at the heart of everything we do as an independent country. Pages 30 and 34 in particular, may be of interest. This publication can be found here: Creating a modern constitution (www.gov.scot).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.