Representation of the People Act 1983 Remedial (Scotland) Order 2025: equality impact assessment

Monitoring and Review

The changes made in this Order will come into force on 19 November 2025. The policy will be implemented by the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, the Electoral Commission and Scottish Government officials. The Electoral Commission oversees and monitors the conduct and administration of elections.

After each election, the Electoral Commission publishes a report discussing how the election was run. This report includes assessment of the experience of voters, and the accessibility of the election. The report which will be published after the 2026 Scottish Parliament election will be assessed for any impacts on the protected characteristics explored in this impact assessment as a result of the changes made in this Order. Officials regularly engage with the Electoral Commission on the impacts of changes to legislation, and on potential future improvements. This forms part of the Scottish Government’s routine monitoring of the impact of legislative and policy changes on protected characteristic groups.

Officials engage regularly with electoral administrators on the impact of Government policy changes on a range of activities, including electoral registration, and accessibility of elections. Officials will monitor the impact of the change with Electoral Registration Officers.

As noted above, it is difficult to obtain specific evidence on the people affected due to the very low numbers. The implementation of the change in this Order will be the responsibility of electoral administrators who will contact relevant institutions to make the affected people aware of this change. The Government will continue to engage with the Electoral Commission and EROs throughout the implementation of this change to receive feedback on the impact of enfranchising the affected people.