Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

14 Boundary committees

(1) The Commission shall establish four Boundary Committees, one for each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

(2) Each Boundary Committee shall consist of—

(a) a chairman, and

(b) not less than the appropriate number of other members,

appointed by the Commission.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) “the appropriate number”, in relation to a Boundary Committee, is—

(a) two, if no functions fall to be exercised by the Committee by virtue of section 18(1), section 19(1) or section 20(1) (as the case may be); and

(b) four, if any functions fall to be so exercised.

(4) Only an Electoral Commissioner or a deputy Electoral Commissioner may be appointed a member of a Boundary Committee; and only an Electoral Commissioner may be appointed chairman of a Boundary Committee.

(5) The Commission shall, where any functions fall to be exercised by a Boundary Committee as mentioned in subsection (3), so exercise their powers of appointment under this section and section 15 as to secure—

(a) that at least one of the members of the Committee is a person with experience of local government matters in England, Scotland or Wales (as the case may be); and

(b) that, in the case of the Boundary Committee for Wales, at least one of the members of the Committee is a person able to speak the Welsh language.

(6) The following persons shall be assessors to the Boundary Committees—

(a) in the case of each of the Boundary Committee for England and the Boundary Committee for Wales, the Registrar General for England and Wales and the Director General of Ordnance Survey;

(b) in the case of the Boundary Committee for Scotland, the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland and the Director General of Ordnance Survey;

(c) in the case of the Boundary Committee for Northern Ireland, the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in Northern Ireland, the Commissioner of Valuation for Northern Ireland and the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland.