Chamber and committees

I hope that I have picked up Bob Doris’s question correctly. If the UK Government extended the list of countries, we would, as I have mentioned, have the opportunity through a statutory instrument to change the list and include any new treaties that had been signed.

Yes.

I feel that I have already answered that question. To make you totally happy with the answer, Bob, I ask Iain Hockenhull to confirm what I said a minute ago.

Yes.

My answers will be brief. Yes, and yes.

Again, it is a question of balance. As we should remember with everything related to the bill, a limited number of people are involved. Iain Hockenhull can answer your question on the data.

As I will probably say in many of my answers, that would be a problem and situation for the UK Government to deal with. There are always concerns that there might be a situation in which someone does not have the right to put themselves forward as a candidate, but the important thing to remember is that, if the UK Government changes the treaty, the bill will give us the ability to use a statutory instrument to ensure that we can follow suit. There might be a chance of some people having difficulty in being a candidate in the future, but it will be only a small percentage. If we look at the number of people who put their names forward for elected office as a percentage of the general population and then at the number of people whom the bill will affect, we see that it is a small minority. I am not saying that it would not happen, but it is unlikely. It would be an extreme case.

I would be very surprised if, over the piece, we ended up with a record number of by-elections in local authorities and that that was causing financial problems for an authority. Should that ever happen, would we have a watching brief on that and possibly have a look at it? Yes, that would be the case. However, I find it difficult to think that we would end up with such a mass of by-elections.

It would be interesting to check how many by-elections there are, on average, over a given period. I will endeavour to look at that and get back to the committee with the detail. On the whole, I would be very surprised if that happened, but, if it did, I would keep an eye on it.

I was going to say that that is what it is, and it would stay the same, because that is the role of a local councillor. I have been a councillor, and half of me thinks, “Why would somebody actually want to be a councillor?” I am sure that you will agree with me on that, Collette. It is a hard job for anyone, and you are literally on the front line of politics.

The important part of the bill is the enabling part for people who want to represent their community. In some cases, the communities involved are small hubs throughout the country. The bill will give people that opportunity. That does not take away from the fact that, as you and I and others here know, it is a difficult job. You are on the front line of politics. You are literally just down the street from many of the individuals you represent.

We are currently working on the consultation. As I said, I am making my officials work hard because I keep adding to it. We are looking towards the end of this year.