Explanatory note

This Order provides for payments for charges and expenses of the Chief Counting Officer and counting officers in connection with the referendum on Scottish independence held on 18th September 2014 under the Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013. Under section 9 of that Act the Chief Counting Officer and counting officers are entitled to recover from the Scottish Ministers the charges and expenses they incurred in exercising their functions, provided the amounts sought do not exceed such maximum amounts as are specified in this Order.

Maximum amounts were specified by the Scottish Independence Referendum (Chief Counting Officer and Counting Officer Charges and Expenses) Order 2014 (“the 2014 Order”), which came into force on 5th May 2014. Article 9 of this Order revokes the 2014 Order, and instead the amounts specified in this Order will be the maximum recoverable amounts.

Articles 3 to 5 make provision in relation to the Chief Counting Officer. The maximum recoverable amount for specified expenses in article 5 has increased from the amount in the 2014 Order, by £159,880, with a consequential increase in the overall maximum recoverable amount specified in article 3. The maximum recoverable amount for specified services, in article 4, is unchanged from that in the 2014 Order.

Articles 6 to 8 and the Schedule make similar provision in relation to counting officers. In most cases there are increases in the maximum recoverable amounts for specified expenses in column 3 of the table in the schedule, though for four local government areas the amounts have reduced. The maximum recoverable amounts for specified services in column 2 of the schedule are unchanged from those in the 2014 Order.