Written question asked by David Mundell (Conservative) on Friday, 12 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 October 2007. It was answered by David Cairns (Labour) on Friday, 19 October 2007 on behalf of the Scotland Office.

Elections

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information his Department provided to the inquiry led by Ron Gould into the conduct of Scottish elections in May 2007 on auto-adjudication without human supervision; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Scotland Office has provided information to the Gould inquiry about electronic counting which includes reference to user agreements. User agreements, where auto-adjudication is specified, were signed by each returning officer, who have statutory responsibility for the adjudication of ballot papers. The Scotland Office did not take any decisions on the inclusion of auto-adjudication and passed no specific information about it to the inquiry.

Secondary information