Part 2: Parliamentary constituencies
Section 10: Boundary Commissions: Reports etc
45.Section 10 amends sections 3 and 4 of the 1986 Act, altering the frequency and timing of reviews of the parliamentary constituencies. Subsection (3) amends section 3 of the 1986 Act so as to require the Boundary Commissions to submit boundary reports to the Minister before 1 October 2013 and every five years subsequently. This replaces a requirement to report every 8 to 12 years. Subsection (4) amends section 3 of the 1986 Act so as to require the Boundary Commissions to submit progress reports to the Speaker of the House of Commons while a report is pending. Subsection (5) removes the ability for Boundary Commissions to produce interim reports in relation to particular areas between general reviews. Because reviews will be more frequent, subsection (5) takes away the power of Boundary Commissions to submit reports on individual constituencies. Subsection (6) amends section 3 of the 1986 Act so as to require the Minister to lay before Parliament a draft of an Order in Council for giving effect to the recommendations in the boundary reports as soon as may be after the submission of the last of the four reports, rather than, as now, as each report is submitted.
46.If a Boundary Commission notifies the Minister that their recommendations are to have effect with modifications, and gives reasons for the modifications, the Order in Council must give effect to the recommendations with those modifications rather than, as now, the Secretary of State having a power to modify recommendations when giving effect to them. Subsection (9) adds the Chief Survey Officer of Land and Property Services as an assessor to the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland, amending paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 to the 1986 Act. Subsection (10) broadens the scope of the functions of Assistant Commissioners from inquiring into and reporting on matters at the request of the Boundary Commissions to assisting the Commissions in carrying out any of their functions. This would increase the flexibility the Boundary Commissions have in what they might ask the Assistant Commissioners to do.
Section 11: Number and distribution of seats
47.Section 11 replaces the rules under which the four Boundary Commissions make recommendations as to how their part of the UK should be divided into constituencies, which are currently set out in Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act. The section substitutes a new Schedule 2. Rule 1 of the new Schedule 2 sets the number of constituencies in the UK at 600. Rule 2 provides for there to be less variation in the size of the electorate in each constituency than at present: the electorate of each constituency is required to be within 5% either side of the UK electoral quota. The UK electoral quota is the number of people in the UK on the electoral register published two years and ten months before the date by which the Commissions’ reports are to be submitted less the electorate on that date of the protected constituencies named in Rule 6, divided by 596, i.e. the number of constituencies in the UK (600) less the four protected constituencies in rule 6.
48.Rules 3 and 8 prevent the Boundary Commissions from recommending constituencies that cross national borders and set out the procedure for calculating the number of constituencies which there are to be in each part of the UK. This is to be done by the Sainte-Laguë method. Under this method, the first constituency is allocated to the part of the UK with the largest electorate (that is to say, the part of the UK with the largest registered electorate). The next constituency and subsequent constituencies are allocated in the same way, except that the electorate of a part of the UK to which one or more constituencies have already been allocated is divided by twice the number of seats already allocated to that part of the UK plus one. If two (or more) parts of the UK are equally entitled to a seat (or seats), the seat is allocated to that nation, of those that are tied, with the smaller or smallest electorate. The preserved constituencies set out in Rule 6 and their electorates are not included in the allocation process.
49.Rule 4(1) imposes a geographical size limit for constituencies of 13,000 square kilometres. This means that the Boundary Commissions may not draw up a constituency which is significantly geographically larger than the current largest constituency. Rule 4(2) provides for an exemption from the lower parity target of 95% of the UK electoral quota for a constituency larger than 12,000 square kilometres, if a Boundary Commission is satisfied that it is not reasonably possible for the constituency to comply with the parity rule. This resolves the problem that might be faced by a Boundary Commission should it be unable to draw up a constituency that meets both the parity rule and the size limit in a sparsely populated area.
50.Rule 5 sets out factors which the Boundary Commissions may take into account in determining constituency boundaries (subject to their complying with the electoral parity rule and the rule about the maximum geographical size of constituencies). The factors are similar to those in the 1986 Act. They may consider special geographical considerations, such as the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency. The Commissions may also take account of local government boundaries, including those of wards. Because of the parity principle in rule 2 constituencies are likely to cross such boundaries more frequently than in the past, but where a Commission has two or more options for recommending how a constituency should be drawn, all of which adhere to the principle in rule 2, but only one of which would not involve crossing the boundary of a local government area, the rule would enable the Commission to recommend that option. As at present, the Commissions may consider local ties such as social, commercial, cultural and transport links that would be broken by changes in constituencies and, in the case of reviews after the first one following the passing of the Act, any inconveniences which would result from a boundary change. They may also take the boundaries of existing constituencies into account.
51.Rule 6 provides for the two Scottish island constituencies of Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles) and Orkney and Shetland to be preserved, and for two constituencies on the Isle of Wight. The electorates of those four constituencies are to be removed from the UK electorate and the Scottish electorate (for Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland) and the English electorate (for the Isle of Wight) for the purposes of calculating the UK electoral quota.
52.Rule 7 makes provision to compensate for the potential impact of rules 3 and 8 on the average size of constituencies in Northern Ireland. Since the result of rule 3 is that a whole number of constituencies is allocated to each part of the UK (which is done as set out in rule 8), it will almost always be the case that the number of constituencies allocated to a part of the UK is very slightly higher or lower, by a fraction of a constituency, than its purely theoretical entitlement. This may have a consequential effect on the average size of a constituency in Northern Ireland which, because of the smaller electorate in Northern Ireland compared to other parts of the UK, might constrain the ability of the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland (BCNI) to recommend constituencies within the parity principle in rule 2. Rule 7 therefore provides that if the difference between the Northern Ireland electorate and the UK electoral quota multiplied by the number of seats in Northern Ireland exceeds one third of the UK electoral quota, and in the opinion of the BCNI it would unreasonably impair their ability to take into account the factors set out in rule 5, or would make the preparation of their report so complex that they would be unable to comply with the deadline for the submission of their report in section 3(2) of the 1986 Act, then the BCNI may propose constituencies that vary from the upper or lower limits imposed by rule 2 by a fixed amount, being the difference between the UK electoral quota and the electorate of Northern Ireland as it exists on the review date divided by the number of seats allocated to Northern Ireland under rules 3 and 8.
53.Rule 9 is an interpretation provision.
Section 12: Boundary Commission proposals: publicity and consultation
54.Section 12 sets out the Boundary Commissions’ responsibilities for publicising their provisional recommendations, and the consultation process once those recommendations have been publicised. Subsection (1) substitutes a new section 5 in the 1986 Act.
55.Subsection (1) of new section 5 requires the Commissions to inform people in the proposed constituencies of the provisional recommendations. It gives the Commissions discretion as to how to inform people. This replaces the existing requirement to give notification through a local newspaper. There is also a requirement to make a copy of the provisional recommendations available for inspection within the proposed constituency, except where no alteration is proposed to a constituency. There is provision for an initial twelve-week consultation period during which written representations on the provisional recommendations may be submitted to the relevant Commission. Subsection (1)(b) of new section 5 makes provision for public hearings to be held between the fifth week and the tenth week of the initial twelve-week consultation period. Subsection (3) of new section 5 provides that public hearings will be subject to the further provisions in Schedule 2A to the 1986 Act (set out at Schedule 11 to this Act). Subsection (4) of new section 5 requires the Boundary Commissions to publish, in such manner as they see fit, the representations made during the initial consultation period and records of public hearings. It also makes provision for a secondary four-week consultation period in which people can comment on representations made during the initial twelve-week consultation. Subsections (5) and (6) of new section 5 require that, if a Boundary Commission revises its provisional recommendations following the secondary four-week consultation period, the revised recommendations will also have to be publicised and consulted upon, during a period of 8 weeks; but this does not apply if the Commission revises its recommendations a second time. Subsection (7) of new section 5 provides that the steps taken by Boundary Commissions to publicise the secondary four-week consultation and any consultation on revised recommendations need not be of the same type as those taken to publicise the initial provisional recommendations and twelve-week consultation period. Subsection (8) of new section 5 requires the Boundary Commissions to take into consideration all written representations duly made and representations made at public hearings. Subsection (9) of new section 5 provides that, other than as set out in new section 5 and new Schedule 2A, the Boundary Commissions may not hold public inquiries or public hearings. Subsection (10) of new section 5 sets out that, where the Boundary Commissions publish general information on their proposed approach to a review, it is for them to decide whether and how to invite representations on this.
56.Subsection (2) provides for the insertion of Schedule 11 of this Act into the 1986 Act as new Schedule 2A. Subsection (3) repeals section 6 of the 1986 Act, thereby removing the practice of holding local inquiries.
Section 13: National Assembly for Wales
57.Section 2 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 specifies that the National Assembly for Wales constituencies are the parliamentary constituencies in Wales. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 13 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 amend that section to provide that the Assembly constituencies are the constituencies specified in the Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Electoral Regions (Wales) Order 2006, as amended. The effect is that any future changes to Parliamentary constituencies made under the new rules introduced by this Act (see sections 10 to 12) would not change Assembly constituencies.
58.Subsections (3) to (8) make transitional provision to deal with interim reviews of constituencies in Wales which are ongoing or have not been implemented at the time when Part 2 of the Act comes into force. Where the Boundary Commission for Wales has informed the Secretary of State or Lord President of the Council of its intention to consider making a report on any constituency in Wales but has not delivered it at the time Part 2 of the Act comes into force, the Commission may give notice in writing to the Secretary of State or Lord President of the Council of its intention to proceed with the report and must then comply with the requirements which applied before the coming into force of Part 2 of the Act. Where the Commission has delivered a report recommending alterations to constituencies but no Order giving effect to its recommendations has been made, an Order must be laid before Parliament in accordance with the previous requirements. Such an Order will affect National Assembly for Wales constituencies (and, where appropriate, electoral regions) but not parliamentary constituencies.
Section 14: Review of reduction in number of constituencies
59.Section 14 requires the Lord President of the Council or the Secretary of State to make arrangements for a committee, a majority of whose members are to be Members of the House of Commons, to carry out a review into the effects of the reduction in size of the House of Commons to 600 as set out in section 11. The arrangements for the review are required to be put in place between June and November 2015.
