Legislation

The work of the Commission	PDF
The Boundary Commission for Scotland was established in its current form by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 which governs our membership and constitution. That Act also defines the rules that we use when recommending UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland. The Act has been amended several times, most recently by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. The text of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 including those amendments can be downloaded as a PDF file from here.
When determining boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies, different legislation applies, namely Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998. Schedule 1 to the Scotland Act 1998 with all current amendments is available as a PDF file from here.
Since the passage of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, Scotland forms a single electoral region for the European Parliament. Therefore, we have no role relating to elections to the European Parliament.
Current boundaries
Information Papers on parliamentary boundaries in Scotland are available through the Publications section of this website.
The current UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland resulted from our Fifth Periodical Report which was published in November 2004. The recommendations of the report were enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 2005 (SI 2005/250) which can be downloaded as a PDF file from here.
The Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions from 2011 onwards resulted from the report of our First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries which was published in May 2010. The recommendations of the report were enacted by the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies and Regions) Order 2010 (SI 2010/2691).
The Scottish Parliament constituencies between 1999 and 2011 resulted from our Fourth Periodical Report which was published in December 1994. The recommendations of the report were enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1995 (SI 1995/1037).
The Scottish Parliament regions between 1999 and 2011 resulted from our Second Supplementary Report on the European Parliamentary Constituencies which was published in June 1996. The recommendations of the report were enacted by the European Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1996 (SI 1996/1926).
Regulations
Our use of the electoral register is governed by the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001. The current text of the relevant parts of the regulations can be downloaded as a PDF file from here.