Process for determining electoral boundaries in Scotland: consultation

Appendix – international comparisons

UK (Westminster constituencies)

When the four UK Boundary Commissions (recommend boundary changes for the UK Parliament, they are approved by an automatic process.

Boundaries criteria: In redrawing UK Parliamentary constituency boundaries, the following criteria must be followed or taken into account:

• Number of electors in each constituency cannot be more than 5% over or under the electorate quota. This is subject to an area rule. If a constituency is greater than 12,000 km² the Commission can recommend a constituency outwith the 5% rule. However no constituency can be greater than 13,000km²;
• Account paid to special geographical considerations (size, shape, accessibility), local government boundaries, special geographic considerations, and local ties.

Approval Process - Final recommendations made by the Boundary Commissions are submitted to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the relevant Secretary of State. A draft Order in Council must then be submitted which gives effect to the recommendations made within four months of the final recommendations being submitted. There is no parliamentary debate or opportunity for MPs or Ministers to vote on or reject the recommendations made by the Boundary Commissions. However, a statement of modifications can be made in that four month period.

Consultation: The boundary commissions publish initial proposals which are subject to an 8-week public consultation period. Once the representations are published, another 6-week secondary consultation follows. Public hearings across the UK are held during the secondary consultation and between 2-5 can be held in Scotland. Following these public hearings and the secondary consultation, revised proposals are published and a further 4-week consultation period is held. Final recommendations are then laid before Parliament.

Commission membership: Each of the four Boundary Commissions is chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons (who takes no part in the review), with the deputy chair being a judge of the Court of Session (Scotland) or High Court (other UK countries). The Commissions have two other members appointed by a Secretary of State through a public appointments process. They are assisted by the Director General of Ordinance Survey, as well as the Registrar General of National Records (in Scotland) or Statistics Board but these are not full members of the commissions.

Wales (Senedd constituencies)

The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 renamed the boundary commission to the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru and saw the body adopt the responsibility to conduct periodic reviews of Senedd Cymru constituencies, as well as its previous responsibilities pertaining to Local Government. The first review will be to create 16 Senedd constituencies by pairing the 32 parliamentary constituencies recently recommended by the Boundary Commission for Wales. The new constituencies will take effect at the 2026 Senedd elections. Constituencies will be reviewed every eight years and the legislation implementing proposals is laid under no procedure.

Boundaries criteria:

• Each Senedd constituency must be within an electoral quota variance of no less than 10% over or under the electoral quota. The electoral quota is the electorate of Wales divided by 16 (which is the number of Senedd constituencies).
• The Commission must seek to minimise the number of changes to Senedd constituencies and have regard to the inconveniences caused by the making of any changes.

Commission membership: A Chair, Deputy Chair and between 1 - 7 Commissioners. All members are appointed by Welsh Ministers in a public appointments process.

Consultation: The DBCC publish an initial report with proposals for an eight-week period of representations. Once the representations are published, the second period for representations commences and lasts for six weeks. During the second period for representations, the Commission must hold between two and five public hearings. At the end of the second period the Commission must make and publish a second report, which sets out the detail of any changes made to the initial proposals and an explanation of why those changes have been made, or a statement that they do not consider any change appropriate. A third and final period for representations lasting four weeks (beginning with the date the second report is published). Following the third period, the Commission make and publish a final report and submit it to the Welsh Ministers.

Approval process: Where changes are required to be made to Senedd constituencies, the Welsh Ministers must make regulations giving effect to the determinations made in a final report of the Commission as soon as reasonably practicable after laying the report before the Senedd and, unless there are exceptional circumstances, before the end of the period of 4 months. Regulations under this section are to be made by statutory instrument, and while they are not subject to any procedure within the Senedd, the statutory instrument containing the regulations must be laid before the Senedd as soon as reasonably practicable after the regulations are made. The effect of these changes has been to align the Welsh boundary approval process with the procedure used for UK electoral boundaries.

Australia (Federal constituencies)

Australia reviews its Federal constituencies (national, House of Representatives) through a process of automatic approval through an augmented commission, at the level of each state or territory. The initial recommendations made by a Redistribution Committee are then publicly consulted on, and responses considered by a larger committee, before being automatically approved.

Boundaries criteria: In redrawing constituency boundaries within each state or territory, the following criteria are taken into account:

• Numerical quota of within 3.5% of electoral parity. Projections for future population are taken into consideration, and some constituencies are deliberately under- or over-estimated to account for expected population change within 3 and a half years (half of the maximum 7-year period between reviews).
• Community interests within the proposed electoral division, including economic, social and regional interests
• Means of communication and travel within the proposed electoral division
• Physical features and area of the proposed electoral division
• Existing boundaries of divisions in the state or territory.

Commission membership: A Redistribution Committee is formed for each state and territory when a boundary review commences. The membership of the Committee is the Electoral Commissioner, the Australian Electoral Officer for that state or territory (in most cases), the Surveyor-General and the Auditor-General. The Augmented Commission consists of the initial Redistribution Committee, with the addition of the Chair of the Electoral Commission (generally a current or retired Federal judge), and an additional member of the Electoral Commission. The appointments of these Commissioners is set out in the Australian Constitution, and a senior Federal judge recommends a short list of judges to the Governor-General, who appoints the Chair of the AEC.

Consultation: The Redistribution Committee invites initial written suggestions for changes to constituencies over a 5-week period, which is followed by a 2-week period where the public can respond to any of these suggestions. The Redistribution Committee then draws proposed boundary changes which are subject to a 4-week period where the public can make objections. The Augmented Electoral Commission then considers these objections, and may hold public inquiries as part of this.

Approval process: The Augmented Electoral Commission then proposes a final recommendation, which is sent to the Minister, and then must be tabled in Parliament within 5 days. There is no opportunity for parliamentarians to amend or reject the proposed changes in any way, nor are the proposals subject to any appeal or legal challenge. It is an offence punishable by fine or imprisonment to seek to influence improperly members of either the Redistribution Committee or the Augmented Electoral Commission.

New Zealand

New Zealand reviews its constituency boundaries using a system of automaticity. Constituencies are divided between the North and South Islands, and also provide for distinct Māori electorates.

Boundaries criteria: The following factors are taken into account when redrawing constituency boundaries:

• The number of people in each constituency cannot be more than 5% above or below electoral parity – population, not number of electors is used
• existing electorate boundaries
• communities of interest — including indigenous affiliations in Māori electorates
• the infrastructure that links communities, such as main roads
• topographic features such as mountains and rivers
• projected variations in electoral populations over the next 5 years

Commission membership: Boundaries are reviewed by a Representation Committee made up of public officials and political figures. The Commission is generally chaired by a current or retired judge. The most recent Commission also consisted of the Surveyor-General, the Deputy Government Statistician, the Chief Electoral Officer, the Local Government Commission Chair, and one political representative each from the Government and from the Opposition. When considering Māori electorates, the Commission also included a Deputy Secretary from the Ministry of Māori Development, and a Government and Opposition Māori representative.

Consultation: The Representation Committee publishes an initial proposal for constituency boundaries, which are subject to public consultation. Any submissions by the public or by political parties are considered, and a final recommendation is made for the revised boundaries.

Approval process: The Electoral Commission present their recommendations directly to the Governor-General at the same time as they are tabled in Parliament, however outside of the public consultation period, there is no opportunity for Parliamentarians to object to or vote on the recommendations.

Canada (Federal constituencies)

Canada reviews its Federal constituency boundaries using a form of return automaticity. Proposals are written by a commission for each Province, and are sent to Parliament where written objections can be filed by MPs. The objections are then considered by the Commissions, and final recommendations are passed automatically.

Boundaries criteria: The following factors are taken into account when redrawing constituency boundaries:

• Population should be as close as possible to parity (may depart from parity by no more than 25% if other factors are taken into consideration)
• the community of interest or community of identity in or the historical pattern of an electoral district in the province
• a manageable geographic size for districts in sparsely populated, rural or northern regions of the province.

Commission membership: As in the UK there is not a single boundary commission but federal constituencies are drawn by separate provincial commissions. They consist of the following: a judge chairs the commission, and is appointed by the chief justice of the province. Two further members are appointed by the Speaker of the House of Commons, who chooses two residents of the province they deem appropriate. The commission also considers population reports and maps prepared by the Chief Statistician and Chief Electoral Officer.

Consultation: For federal constituencies, each provincial commission publishes a boundary proposal for its province, and a public consultation period is held which includes at least one public hearing per province. The commission finalises its report following the consultation, and the report is sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons, where it is tabled and referred to a parliamentary committee.

Approval process: MPs are able to table objections to the report, however any written objection must be co-signed by a minimum of 10 MPs. The report is returned to the commission with any approved objections, and a final report is written by the commission. The Electoral Commission drafts an Order describing the electoral districts published by the boundaries commission, and it is sent to the responsible Minister. Within five days of receipt by the Minister, the Order is declared to be in force by the Governor-in- Council.