§ Mr. Alasdair MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of advantages of making the times of the opening and closing of the poll the same for the elections to both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish local authorities on 6 May 1999. [52630]
§ Mr. McLeishA Working Group has been set up comprising officials from the Scottish Office, the main political parties, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Electoral Administrators to look at the arrangements for the conduct of elections on 6 May 1999, including the polling hours.
The current assumption is that the polling hours should be the same for both elections, but no conclusion has yet been reached on the precise times.