This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Single Transferable Vote findings
28/01/2004
The Single Transferable Vote (STV) Working Group, set up
by the Executive in September 2003 to look at the
practicalities of operating STV, submitted its interim
findings to Executive Ministers today.
The Working Group, chaired by David Green, former
convener of Highland Council, was set up look at the
practical implementation of STV. It was asked to examine
the procedures necessary to facilitate council elections
being held using the Single Transferable Vote, and how
multi-member wards will operate in practice.
The expected lifetime of the Group is about one year and
the interim report was handed over to Andy Kerr, Minister
for Finance and Public Services at a meeting in Edinburgh
today.
Mr Kerr said:
"We welcome the Working Group's report. Clearly this is
an interim report but we will need to consider carefully
these recommendations in the context of the passage of the
Local Governance (Scotland) Bill currently before the
Scottish Parliament."
The Local Governance (Scotland) Bill will:
- introduce STV for the next local government
elections
- bring the age at which people can stand as a
councillor down to 18
- remove unnecessary political restrictions on
council employees standing for local authority
elections
- establish an independent remuneration committee for
councillors
The STV Working Group was set up to consider how an
election using the
STV system might operate and how multi-member council
wards could work in practice.
The STV Working Group is chaired by David Green,
Chairman of the Crofters
Commission and former convenor of Highland Council.
The full list of members is as follows:
David Green, former Convener, Highland Council,
(Chairperson) Leslie Evans, Scottish Executive Jeff
Hawkins, Society of Local Authority Lawyers and
Administrators
Councillor Jim McCabe, Convention of Scottish Local
Authorities Dr Vicki Nash, Society of Local Authority Chief
Executives Billy Pollock, Association of Electoral
Administrators Dr Ken Ritchie, Electoral Reform Society Bob
Smith, Local Government Boundary Commission for
Scotland
Arthur McCourt, the Chief Executive of Highland Council,
also attends Group meetings as an adviser to David
Green.