The Secretary of State may by order cause a referendum to be held in a region specified in the order about the establishment of an elected assembly for that region.

The date of the referendum must be specified in the order.

But the Secretary of State must not make an order under subsection (1) unless each of the following two conditions is satisfied in relation to the region.

The first condition is that the Secretary of State has considered the level of interest in the region in the holding of such a referendum.

The second condition is that the Boundary Committee for England have made recommendations in relation to the region in pursuance of section 13.

The Secretary of State may make the order at any time during the period of two years starting with the date on which he gives a direction under section 13 in relation to the region so long as before he makes the order he has no cause to think that the level of interest has changed materially.

A change in the level of interest is material if the changed level is one at which the Secretary of State (disregarding factors relating to any other region) thinks he would not have given a direction under section 13.

The Secretary of State may by order vary or revoke an order under this section if he thinks it is not appropriate for a referendum to be held on the date specified in the order.

This section applies if the Secretary of State makes an order under section 1 to cause a referendum to be held in a region about the establishment of an elected assembly for that region.

The Secretary of State must by order cause a referendum to be held in each county area in the region about the government’s proposals for the structure of local government in that area.

A county area is an area in the region in relation to which both a county council and one or more district councils have functions.

But if the government’s proposals for a county area include an option providing for a local authority whose area includes any part of the area of more than one county area, the county area for the purposes of this section is the combined area of each of those county areas.

An order under subsection (2) must not be made before the end of the period of six weeks starting with the day on which the Secretary of State receives the recommendations of the Boundary Committee in pursuance of a direction under section 13(1) or 16(4).

A Minister of the Crown may by order make such provision as he thinks appropriate in connection with a referendum held in pursuance of an order under subsection (2).

The question to be asked in a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 1 is: “ Should there be an elected assembly for the (insert name of region) region? ”

The following statement (in as nearly as may be the following form) must precede the question on the ballot paper:

The question to be asked in a referendum in pursuance of an order under section 2(2) is:

If the same ballot paper is used for both a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 1 and a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 2(2), the following statement (in as nearly as may be the following form) must precede the question on the ballot paper used in any part of the region where a referendum is held in pursuance of an order under section 2(2): “ Your part of the region currently has both county and district councils. You can help to decide how local authorities in your part of the region will be reorganised into a single tier. There will be no such reorganisation if an elected assembly is not established. ”

If the same ballot paper is not used for both referendums as mentioned in subsection (4) the following statement (in as nearly as may be the following form) must precede the question on the ballot paper used for a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 2(2): “ If an elected assembly is established for the (insert name of region) region, it is intended that local government will be reorganised into a single tier in those parts of the region that currently have both county and district councils. Your part of the region currently has both county and district councils. You can help to decide how local authorities in your part of the region will be reorganised into a single tier. There will be no such reorganisation if an elected assembly is not established. ”

Explanatory material does not include instructions to voters as to the conduct of the referendum.

A person is entitled to vote in a referendum held in a region in pursuance of an order under section 1 if on the date of the referendum he is entitled to vote at the election of councillors for any electoral area in the region.

A person is entitled to vote in a referendum held in a county area of a region in pursuance of an order under section 2(2) if on the date of the referendum he is entitled to vote at the election of councillors for any electoral area in the county area.

But subsections (1) and (2) are subject to provision made by the Secretary of State in regulations for disregarding alterations made after a specified date in a register of electors.

The regulations may apply or incorporate with or without modifications or exceptions any provision of any enactment (whenever passed or made) relating to referendums or elections.

An electoral area is any electoral division or ward (or in the case of a parish in which there are no wards the parish) for which the election of councillors is held under the Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70).

County area must be construed in accordance with section 2.

No further order under section 1 may be made in relation to the region until the end of the period of seven years starting with the day on which the referendum was held.

Any question as to the number of votes cast in a referendum in favour of an answer to a question is determined by the certificate of the Chief Counting Officer given under section 128 of the 2000 Act (functions of Chief Counting Officer).

Subsection (5) applies if in any proceedings any certificate given by a person appointed for the purpose as to the number of votes cast in favour of any option in a referendum held in a county area in pursuance of an order under section 2(2) is declared or held to be invalid.

If an order is made under subsection (5) any reference in this Act to a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 2(2) or to the order must be construed as a reference to a referendum held in pursuance of an order under subsection (5) or to the order under that subsection (as the case may be).

But subsection (6) applies to such a reference in section 3(7) and (8) only to the extent that the wording of the text mentioned in section 3(7)(a) or the explanatory material differs from that considered by the Electoral Commission for the purposes of the referendum held in pursuance of the order under section 2(2).

For the purposes of a referendum held in pursuance of an order under subsection (5) the Secretary of State may by order vary the terms of the statement set out in section 3(5).

Before an order under subsection (8) is laid before Parliament in pursuance of section 29(2) the Secretary of State must consult the Electoral Commission as to the wording of the statement as so varied.

At the time when the order is so laid the Secretary of State must lay before each House a report stating any views which the Commission have expressed in response to the consultation as to the intelligibility of the statement as so varied.

The Secretary of State may by order vary or revoke an order made under subsection (5) if he thinks that it is not appropriate for the referendum to be held on the date specified in the order.

Explanatory material must be construed in accordance with section 3.

The Electoral Commission may take such steps as they think appropriate to provide for persons entitled to vote in the referendum such information as the Commission think is likely to promote awareness among those persons about the arguments for and against each answer to the referendum question.

But if a Minister of the Crown makes an order under section 109(6) of the 2000 Act the appropriate day is the day specified in the order for the purposes of this section.

Subsection (6) applies if the Secretary of State makes an order under section 2(2) to cause a referendum to be held about the government’s proposals for the structure of local government.

The Electoral Commission may take such steps as they think appropriate to provide for persons entitled to vote in the referendum such information as the Commission think is likely to promote awareness among those persons about the arguments relating to the options in those proposals.

Information provided in pursuance of this section must be provided by the means the Commission think is most likely to secure (in the most cost effective way) that the information comes to the notice of all persons entitled to vote in the referendum.

Counting officer includes a person appointed in pursuance of an order under section 2(9) for the purpose of certifying the number of ballot papers or votes cast in a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 2(2).

The proceedings must be brought by a claim for judicial review.

The court must not give permission for the claim unless the claim form is filed before the end of the period of six weeks starting with the certificate date.

This Part does not affect the power of a Minister of the Crown to make provision under section 129 of the 2000 Act (orders regulating the conduct of referendums) for or in connection with a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 1 above.

It is immaterial whether the power is exercised before or after the passing of this Act.

Section 126 of the 2000 Act (identification of promoter and publisher of referendum materials) does not apply to any material published for the purposes of a referendum held in pursuance of an order under section 1 above if the publication is required under or by virtue of an order under section 129(1) of that Act or section 7 above.

Expressions used in this Part and in Part 7 of the 2000 Act have the same meaning in this Part as they do in that Part.

The 2000 Act is the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41).

This section applies for the purposes of this Part.

But the Secretary of State must not give a direction unless he has considered the level of interest in the region in the holding of a referendum.

If at any time the Secretary of State is considering whether to cause a referendum to be held in two or more regions he may consider (for the purpose of deciding in respect of which (if any) regions to give a direction) any differences in the levels of interest in the different regions in the holding of a referendum.

It is immaterial that anything done for the purposes of subsection (4) or (5) is done before the passing of this Act.

But the Secretary of State must not give a direction containing such requirements unless he has consulted the Boundary Committee as to the dates he proposes to specify.

A direction under this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent direction.

This section applies for the purposes of section 13.

The number of people living in an area is taken to be the most recent estimate of that number published by the Office for National Statistics.

Relevant local authorities are the county council and district council for any area in the region in relation to which both councils have functions.

The Boundary Committee for England may require a public body to give the Committee such information as they reasonably require in connection with their functions under this Part.

A public body must comply with a requirement under subsection (6).

This section applies in relation to recommendations made by the Boundary Committee in pursuance of section 13(1)(b).

The recommendations must include at least two options for structural change in relation to each county area in the region.

If the Secretary of State acts under subsection (4)(b), sections 13(8) to (10), 14(3) to (8), 15 and this section apply for the purposes of the further review and recommendations.

For the purposes of subsection (5) it is immaterial whether the Secretary of State has considered any of the matters in section 13(5).

County area must be construed in accordance with section 2(3).

The Secretary of State may by order give effect to all or any of the recommendations of the Boundary Committee for England made to him in pursuance of a direction under section 13 or 16(4).

Such an order may give effect to a recommendation with or without modifications.

The Schedule (which contains amendments consequential on this section) has effect.

The provisions of the 1992 Act specified in the left hand column of the Table apply for the purposes of this Part as they apply for the purposes of Part 2 of that Act subject to the modifications (if any) specified in the right hand column:

Expressions used in this Part and in Part 2 of the 1992 Act have the same meaning in this Part as they do in that Part, but references to a local authority do not include references to a parish council.

In this Part the 1992 Act is the Local Government Act 1992 (c. 19).

The Secretary of State may pay to the Electoral Commission such amount as he decides is the amount required by them to enable the Boundary Committee for England to carry out their functions under this Part.

A payment under subsection (1) must be treated as income received by the Commission for the purposes of paragraph 14(1) of Schedule 1 to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41).

For the purposes of section 13 the Council of the Isles of Scilly are not a relevant local authority.

But the Secretary of State may by regulations make such provision as he thinks appropriate in relation to the Isles of Scilly in consequence of anything done under or by virtue of this Part.