What are the electorate requirements for constituencies?
The electorate of each constituency has to be as near the average as is practicable.
What are the other rules for designing Scottish Parliament constituencies?
The other rules include avoiding excessive disparities between neighbouring constituencies, taking account of local authority boundaries, of special geographical considerations, and of inconveniences and any local ties which would be broken by changes to constituencies.
Can I have a say?
Yes. The public consultation process is designed to allow everyone to express their view for or against our proposals. You can do this by letter or email, using our contact details given on this website. During consultation periods, we have a response form on this website. You can express your views in person at local inquiries. Views in support of our proposals are as important as those against.
Can I get data of current Local Authority and Scottish Parliament boundaries to use in a geographical information system (GIS)?
Yes, current UK Parliament constituency boundaries are available in Ordnance Survey's OpenData portfolio of products.
Can I get data of past Scottish Parliament and council area electoral boundaries to use in a geographical information system (GIS)?
Yes, past council area electoral boundaries and Scottish Parliament boundaries since our establishment in 1973 are available from the Reviews or Data pages of this website. This data is Free to Use Data under the One Scotland Mapping Agreement. There are brief Terms of Use which you can download from the Data files page.
Which people do you consider when you're looking at numbers?
The law requires us to use the number of "local government electors". In order to be a local government elector, you have to be over 16, and to be included on the Register of Electors for your area. Find out how to check whether you're registered to vote, and how to register to vote at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.
What's the difference between local government electorate and parliamentary electorate?
UK citizens of voting age who are resident in the UK are entitled to register to vote in all elections. EU citizens who are resident in the UK can register as local government electors. Commonwealth and Irish Republic citizens who are resident in the UK and UK citizens living abroad, can register as parliamentary electors. We use the local government electorate for all of our reviews.
Can you tell me the current number of electors in a ward, council area, Scottish Parliament constituency or region?
We do not publish current electorate figures for wards. These can be obtained from the relevant page of the National Records of Scotland website: www.nrscotland.gov.uk.
Do numbers of people matter when you're recommending wards?
Yes. The law specifies that each ward should have "as nearly as may be" the same number of electors per councillor as every other ward in a council area. We refer to this as electoral parity. As a result, when we carry out a review, we look closely at the number of electors in each area. We also We consider likely changes to electorate over the following 5 years when we conduct a review. To do this, we use information from the local authority on expected new-build and demolitions of dwellings over the period, together with population projections from the National Records of Scotland.